prefix
Meaning 1
An early, primitive stage of development.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
- protophysics, protometal, protoword
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
proto-
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ˈpɹəʊ.təʊ/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: /pɹoʊ.toʊ/
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US: [pɹoʊ.ɾoʊ]
prefix
Meaning 2
Original, older.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
- protograph, protolacteal, prototype, protoplasm
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 3
First in order; which stage is first.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme, numeral, ordinal
Examples
- protogynous, protandrous
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 4
Primary.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
- protoderm, protocneme
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 5
Most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Topics: biology, genetics, human-sciences, linguistics, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences
Examples
- All Indo-European languages from Albanian to Zazaki are descended from Proto-Indo-European.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 6
A minimal proportion of a particular substance when in a combination. See protosalt.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Topics: chemistry, inorganic-chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
Examples
- protoxide, protosulfide, protiodide
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 7
Relating to protons and/or positive charge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
Examples
- protophilic, protolysis
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 8
A proto-metal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme, obsolete
Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
Examples
- proto-calcium; proto-magnesium
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 9
Anterior.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences
Examples
- prototroch, protoconid, protoconule
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prefix
Meaning 10
Alternative letter-case form of proto- (“used for proper names of protolanguages and their associated people”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, morpheme
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *próder. Ancient Greek πρό (pró) Ancient Greek -ᾰτος (-ătos) Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos) Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-)lbor. English proto- Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combination form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).
Across languages
Translations
38 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Chinese Mandarin: 原- (yuán-) — first
- Czech: proto- — first
- Esperanto: pra- — first
- Finnish: ensi- — first
- Finnish: proto- — first
- French: proto- — first
- Galician: proto- — first
- German: ur- — first
- Hindi: आदि (ādi) — first
- Malay: proto- — first
- Malay: purba- — first
- Polish: pra- — first
- Russian: прото- (proto-) — first
- Swedish: ur- — first
- Armenian: վաղնջա- (vaġnǰa-) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Bengali: প্রত্ন- (protno-) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Chinese Cantonese: 原始 (jyun4 ci2) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Chinese: 原始 (zh-min-nan) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Chinese Mandarin: 原始 (Yuánshǐ) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Czech: pra- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Dutch: proto- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Esperanto: pra- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Finnish: kanta- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- French: proto- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Galician: proto- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- German: ur- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Hindi: आदिम (ādim) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Hungarian: ős- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Hungarian: alap- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Polish: pra- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Portuguese: proto- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Portuguese: prot- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Russian: пра- (pra-) — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Swedish: ur- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Turkish: proto- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Turkish: ana- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Turkish: ön- — (linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages
- Polish: proto- — chemistry