Standard Lemma guide

protostar

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹəʊtə(ʊ)stɑː/
  • General-American: prōʹtə-stär'
  • General-American: prōʹtō-stär'
  • rhymes with -əʊtəʊstɑː(ɹ)
  • rhymes with -əʊtəstɑː(ɹ)

1

noun

Meaning 1

A collection of gas and dust in space with high temperature that usually grows to the point of beginning nuclear fusion and becoming a star.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: infant star

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From proto- + star. Compare later protostellar.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 原恆星 /原恒星 (yuánhéngxīng) — protostar
  • French: protoétoile — protostar
  • Irish: prótairéalta — protostar
  • Italian: protostella — protostar
  • Japanese: 原始星 (genshisē) — protostar
  • Korean: 원시별 (wonsibyeol) — protostar
  • Persian: پیشستاره — protostar
  • Portuguese: protoestrela — protostar
  • Spanish: protoestrella — protostar
  • Swedish: protostjärna — protostar