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词汇 proto-
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proto- 或 prot-
pref.（前缀）
  1. First in time; earliest:
    时间上最先的；最早的：
    protolithic.
    始石器的
  2. First formed; primitive; original:
    最先形成的；原始的；原初的：
    protohuman.
    原人
  3. Proto- Being a form of a language that is the ancestor of a language or group of related languages:
    Proto- 作为一种或一组相关的语言的始祖形式的：
    Proto-Germanic.
    原始日耳曼语系
  4. Having the least amount of a specified element or radical:
    含某些定元素或基团的数量最少的：
    protoporphyrin.
    原卟啉

语源
  1. Greek prōto-
    希腊语 prōto-
  2. from prōtos * see per 1
    源自 prōtos *参见 per 1
proto- or (sometimes before a vowel) prot-

combining form

indicating the first in time, order, or rank
⇒ protomartyr
primitive, ancestral, or original
⇒ prototype
indicating the reconstructed earliest stage of a language
⇒ Proto-Germanic
indicating the first in a series of chemical compounds
⇒ protoxide
indicating the parent of a chemical compound or an element
⇒ protactinium

Origin

from Greek prōtos first, from pro before; see pro-2

proto-

Word Origin
1
a combining form meaning “first,” “foremost,” “earliest form of,” used in the formation of compound words (protomartyr; protolithic; protoplasm), specialized in chemical terminology to denote the first of a series of compounds, or the one containing the minimum amount of an element.
Also, especially before a vowel, prot-.
Origin
< Greek, combining form representing prôtos first, superlative formed from pró; see pro-2

Related Words

  • protoavis
  • prot-
  • protero-
  • protochordate
  • protocontinent
  • protodeacon
proto-a word element meaning:
1. first, earliest form of, as prototype.
2. Chemistry
a. the first of a series of compounds.
b. that one of a series of compounds which contains the minimum amount of an element.
3. (usually upper case) Linguistics the reconstructed earliest form of a language: ◆ Proto-Germanic.
[Greek, combining form of protos first]
proto-
⇨ see prot-
proto-
/ˈpəʊtəʊ/  
（元音前通常为prot-）
combining form
original; primitive
表示“最早的”; “原始的”：

prototherian

prototype.

■  first; anterior; relating to a precursor
表示“第一的”, “先前的”, “与前任有关的”：

protomartyr

protozoon.

词源
from Greek prōtos 'first'.
proto-|prəʊtəʊ|before a vowel or h properly prot- |prəʊt|, or with h |prəʊθ|, repr. Gr. πρωτο-, combining form of πρῶτος first, which became πρωτ- before a simple, and πρωθ- before an aspirated vowel.In compounds already used in Greek, and many of later formation, the Greek practice (represented by the forms proto-, prot-, proth-) is retained, but in modern formations, esp. in group 2 below, the tendency is to leave proto- unchanged: e.g. proto-apostate, proto-hippus.Words in proto- requiring for any reason individual treatment will be found as main words; those not so treated follow here, in three groups, showing the use of proto-, (1) in general language; (2) in terms of zoology and biology; (3) in chemical terminology.1. In various words of rare occurrence or noncewords, often self-explaining: proto- (which, when prefixed to a word already in English, is usually hyphened) denoting (a) ‘First in time, earliest, original, primitive’, as in proto-apostate, proto-bishop, proto-chemistry, proto-chronicler, proto-culture, proto-god, proto-heresiarch, proto-history, proto-ideal, proto-metaphrast, proto-music, proto-novelist, proto-parent, proto-pattern, proto-phoneme, proto-poet, proto-protestant, proto-scientist, proto-sinner, proto-tyrant; (b) ‘First in rank or importance, chief, principal’, as in † proto-abbaty (= abbacy), proto-architect, proto-chemist, proto-devil, proto-groomship, proto-justiciaryship, proto-magnate, proto-rebel, proto-traitor; also the following: protoˈcultural a., belonging to such origins as can be surmised of human cultural development. proto-ˈdeacon (-diacon) [Gr. πρωτοδιάκονος], a chief deacon (in the Greek Church). † proto-ˈforester (protho-) [med.L. protoforestarius], chief forester. proto-ˈgospel = Protevangelium. † ˈprotogram Obs., an acronym. ˈprotograph [see -graph], a first or original writing. † protoˈgraphic a. Obs., acronymic. proto-hiˈstorian, (a) (also † prot-) the earliest or original historian; (b) one who studies proto-history. proto-hiˈstoric a., belonging to or relating to primitive history, or the beginnings of historical records. proto-hiˈstorical a. = proto-historic adj. ˈproto-literate a., characterized by the most primitive kind of writing. proto-ˈMark, an assumed original writing which formed the basis of the existing Gospel of Mark; so proto-ˈMatthew. † proto-ˈnatural a. Obs., primarily natural, belonging to the original nature of a thing. † proto-noˈtator, a first or principal recorder of a court. proto-patriˈarchal a., belonging to a chief patriarch. † ˈproto-plot Obs., an original plot or scheme. proto-ˈpresbyter = protopope. † proto-ˈprimitive a., earliest among the primitive, most primitive. proto-scienˈtific a., belonging or relating to primitive science, or to an early stage in scientific development. † proto-ˈscriniary (erron. scrinerary), a chief keeper of records, etc. ˈprotosyntax (see quot. 1940); hence protosynˈtactical a. protosynˈtactically adv. ˈprototheme (see quot. 1897). proto-tyˈpographer, the earliest or chief printer. protoˈvestiary [med.L. prōtovestiārius], the chief keeper of a (royal) wardrobe. protoˈzeugma (see quot.). Also protocanonical, protomartyr, protopope, prototype, etc.a1661Fuller Worthies, Somerset. (1662) iii. 21 Glassenbury being the *Proto-Abbaty then and many years after.1827Hallam Const. Hist. xv. II. 475 note, Sir James Montgomery, the false and fickle *proto-apostate of whiggism.1859Hobhouse Italy I. 93 Sansovino was *proto-architect to the empire of St. Mark.1641Heylin Hist. Episc. ii. (1657) 18 James the *Proto-Bishop, the first that ever had a fixt Episcopall Sea, was ordained Bishop of Hierusalem, by Peter, James and John the sonnes of Zebedee.1907Edin. Rev. Jan. 34 Anastasius..sent the *proto-chemist, Johannes Isthmius, to end his fraudulent career in the Fortress of Petra.1650T. Vaughan (title) Anthroposophia Theomagica: Or a Discourse of the Nature of Man and his state after death; Grounded on his Creator's *Proto-Chimistry.Ibid. 9 He that knows how to imitate the Proto-Chymistrie of the Spirit by Separation of the Principles wherein the Life is Imprisoned.1976Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Nov. 1418/2 The development of alchemy and proto-chemistry [in China].1604Parsons 3rd Pt. Three Convers. Eng., Relat. Trial 61 Though he be the Protestants *Protochronicler.1961A. I. Hallowell in S. L. Washburn Social Life Early Man 237, I suggested that the level of development represented by cultural adaptation can be focused more sharply in evolutionary perspective if we hypothecate a *protocultural phase in hominid evolution.1976Sci. Amer. Oct. 104/2 The difference is not necessarily related to the confinement of our troop but may simply reflect protocultural differences.1971R. M. & F. M. Keesing New Perspectives Cultural Anthropol. 48 There must have been ‘protomen’ with ‘*protoculture’.1698J. Crull Muscovy 314 He hath also a *Proto-Deacon.1896Westm. Gaz. 27 May 6/2 Two archpriests, accompanied by proto-diacons, come forward.1694Motteux Rabelais v. xiii, Oh you Devils,..*Proto-Devils, Panto-Devils, you would wed a Monk, would you?[1617Minsheu Ductor, *Protoforestarius, was he whom the auncient Kings of this Realme made cheefe of Winsour Forest.]1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 644 This Hugh was high Iustice, Gardian, or Prothoforester of England.1900Nature 8 Mar. 437/2 So stangely complex a pantheon was set up that the *protogod was almost whelmed by the sanctifications of himself.1924Glasgow Herald 27 Sept. 4 ‘Anzac’ is one of the first *protograms to which the war gave birth. It is used..to describe anything pertaining to the ‘Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’.1933H. Wentworth Blend-Words in Eng. 3 Words formed from the initials of other words—called letter words..and protograms (F. H. Vizetelly)—are fewer.1841Myers Cath. Th. iii. §46. 176 If it be admitted that an authentic *protograph of the Bible, with incontestably Divine signature..does not exist.1974Bible Translator July 317 According to Russian biblical scholarship these basic sections are..(1) the protographs of the Septuagint and the New Testament [etc.].1924Glasgow Herald 27 Sept. 4 The great majority of words of the *protographic type have been coined within the last decade.1822New Monthly Mag. V. 342 The *protogroomship of the horse.1844W. Kay in Fleury's Eccl. Hist. III. 188 note, The words..may simply refer to the fact of Simon's being the *proto-heresiarch.1647M. Hudson Div. Right Govt. i. viii. 63 All Histories and Chronicles..since Moses the *Prothistorian of the world.1949Proc. Prehist. Soc. XV. 196 That difficult problem so often shirked by prehistorian and proto⁓historian—the mechanics of cultural diffusion.1880Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. VIII. 191 The great school of *protohistoric mythology.1901Pilot 26 Jan. 102/2 Our knowledge of prehistoric and protohistoric times..increases daily.1928V. G. Childe Most Anc. East viii. 176 The implements of the *protohistorical period were almost entirely of metal.1950A. Huxley Themes & Variations 54 That Golden Age of Peace, which not long since was regarded as a mere myth, but is now revealed by the light of archaeology as a proto- and pre-historical reality.1920R. R. Marett Psychol. & Folk-lore xi. 249 The value of *proto-history, as it is sometimes termed.1947H. C. E. Zacharias (title) Proto-history. An explicative account of the development of human thought from Palaeolithic times to the Persian monarchy.1980Encounter May 66/1 We—the workers in British protohistory during the last 30 years—have suffered corporately from inadequate preliminary education, leading to the mental counterparts of asthma, myopia and strabismus.1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Diss. Physick 40 The same *Proto-Ideal Purpose of drawing out the Primogenial Physick of the Grecians to its first aboriginal Offspring.1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. ix. §31. 588 The Earle of Kent, whom..the King remooued from the *Proto-Iustitiariship (or high office of his Chiefe Iustice).1942Delougaz & Lloyd Pre-Sargonid Temples i. 123 The architectural history of the Sin Temple bears out..the subdivision of the Early Dynastic period into three and the *Proto-literate into at least two distinct phases.1971Proto-literate [see pictographic adj. s.v. pictograph].1822New Monthly Mag. V. 342 Creating him a *protomagnate of Persia.1883Schaff Hist. Ch. II. xii. lxxix. 600 He used the Hebrew Matthew..or a lost *proto-Mark.1865De Morgan in Athenæum 13 May 653/3 Billingsley, the English *protometaphrast of Euclid.1963Auden Dyer's Hand 474 A music which sounds remarkably like primitive *proto-music.1977Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 41/3 Ultimately, 14 Canons is a unique type of protomusic—a series of potentially extendible alchemical exercises.a1653Binning Serm. (1845) 68 This is the *protonatural obligation.1720Strype Stow's Surv. II. v. xxviii. 387/1 The Maior's Clerk, together with the Common Clerk of the City, and the Sheriff's Clerks sat before them, to note..all the Matters objected... And one was *Protonotator, from whose Note all the rest took each his Copy of Writing.1976Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Nov. 1459/4 Bunyan's humanity and his raciness and his humour and everything that makes him a *proto-novelist.1603J. Davies Microcosm. (Grosart) 23/1 Since our *Proto-parents' lowest fall, Our wisdome's highest pitch (God wot) is low.c1810Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 218 Aye! here is the ovum,..the proto-parent of the whole race of controversies.1658Bramhall Schism Guarded iv. i. x, His *Protopatriarchal power was acknowledged.1657J. Watts Vind. Ch. Eng. 86 We are to..eye Christ beyond them, especially, as the *Proto-Patterne.1960H. M. Hoenigswald Lang. Change & Ling. Reconstruction xii. 132 If a split affects the same *proto-phoneme in each daughter language, the partial likeness between the sets of correspondences is impaired.1974R. W. Wescott in Language Origins 116 Only eight proto-phonemes (which are more nearly equivalent to contemporary morphophonemes than to contemporary Phonemes) appear in all five of their formulations. The eight are p, t, k; m, n; y, w; e.1584Leycesters Commonw. (1641) 91 Their Architipe or *Proto-plot which they follow (I meane the conspiracy of Northumberland and Suffolke in King Edwards dayes).1963Auden Dyer's Hand 34 Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was..its Proper Name. Here Adam plays the role of the *Proto-poet.1882–3Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 1942 There is a *proto-presbyter or proto-pope at each cathedral..in the Græco-Russian Church.1694J. Smith Doctr. Lord's Day 70 Sunday was accounted by the *Protoprimitive Fathers the Seventh day in the order of Creation.1604Parsons 3rd Pt. Three Convers. Eng. 355 One of the first *Protoprotestants of England.1714Lockhart Mem. Affairs Scot. 9 His son..thence acquired the title of *proto-rebell.1907A. Lang Hist. Scot. IV. iv. 80 Queensberry, now regarded by Cavaliers as ‘the proto-rebel’, was Privy Seal.1934Webster, *Protoscientific, adj.1968M. Bunge in R. Klibansky Contemp. Philos. II. 4 In the underdeveloped (protoscientific) disciplines, fact-collecting passes for the sole respectable occupation.1978Sci. Amer. Jan. 69/1 Overshadowed by scholasticism, the work of the *protoscientists was ignored or treated as heresy, and its proponents endured ridicule and some persecution.1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 85 He had under him twelve Scrineraries, and one *Proto-Scrinerary.1702Burlesque L'Estrange's Quevedo 279 Lucifer, the *Proto-Sinner of Heaven.1940W. V. Quine Math. Logic vii. 292 The part of syntax which omits membership will be called *protosyntax...*Protosyntactical definability is intended not as an approximation to constructivity, but as something more inclusive. The notion of a non-theorem, e.g., is *protosyntactically definable, yet presumably not constructive.1943Mind LII. 272 A restricted portion of the syntax (that which omits membership) is distinguished by the label ‘protosyntax’.1964Amer. Philos. Q. I. 265/1 The entire construction is done..within Quine's protosyntax.1897*Prototheme [see deuterotheme s.v. deutero-].1905N. & Q. III. 176/1 These protothemes in familiar intercourse, or even on more serious occasions, often received the termination -a, Seax, for instance, becoming Seaxa.1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 284 Thomas that *Prototraitour and rebell to his Prince.1656Blount Glossogr., *Prototypographer.., the cheif Printer.1880Blades in Athenæum 18 Dec. 814/3 He left Bruges to return to his native country and become its proto-typographer.1931Library XII. 109 This volume is printed with the type of Johannes de Salsburga and Paulus de Constantia, the prototypographers of Barcelona.1976Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Oct. 1328/2 Thanks to Caxton, England had a native prototypographer who worked with patriotic gusto in the national language.1657W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc Ep. Ded. 4 Nimrod the mighty Hunter, and *Proto-Tyrant of the world.1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) I. iii. 132 *Protovestiary or wardrobe keeper of the palace of Antiochus at Constantinople (c 1070).1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 180 *Protozeugma,..when the Verb or Adjective is expressed in the beginning of the clause or sentence; and omitted after.2. In numerous modern scientific and technical terms (ns. and adjs.). The second element is properly of Greek origin, less frequently of Latin. a. Prefixed to adjs. from names of countries or races, forming adjs. denominating primitive or original peoples, writings, works of art or manufacture, styles of architecture, etc.; in Philol., forming ns. and adjs. designating the earliest attested or hypothetically-reconstructed form of a language or family of languages (cf. primitive a. 4 b): as proto-Algonquian, proto-Arabic, proto-Aryan, proto-Athapaskan, proto-Australian, proto-Australoid, proto-Austronesian, proto-Babylonian, proto-Caucasic, proto-Celtic, proto-Corinthian, proto-Doric, proto-Egyptian, proto-Elamite, proto-Gallo-Romance (also proto-Romanic), proto-Germanic, proto-Greek, proto-Hattic, proto-Indo-European, proto-Ionic, proto-Italic, proto-Malay, proto-Medic, proto-Phœnician, proto-Polynesian, proto-Romance, proto-Semitic, proto-Slavonic. Also with nouns denoting natives or inhabitants, as proto-Mede; with geographical names and ns., as proto-Atlantic, proto-Nile, proto-ocean, proto-Thames; and with astronomical names, as proto-earth, proto-Jupiter, proto-sun (hence protosolar adj.). Also protocloud, -cluster in 2 b, protocontinent, protogalaxy, protoplanet, protostar. proto-ˈHittite, the language of the Hattian people, philologically unrelated to Hittite.1939L. Bloomfield in C. Hockett Bloomfield Anthol. (1970) 352 Our basic forms are not ancient forms, say of the *Proto-Algonquian parent language.1974Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XIX. 145 As was mentioned above, Proto-Algonquian palatalization came down into Fox pretty much unscathed.1889Sayce in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 905 An alphabet and language which have been termed *Protoarabic.1904G. S. Hall Adolescence II. xviii. 657 The Todas of India, whom some call *proto-Aryans.1938Partridge World of Words iv. 126 The Latin may be traced to an Aryan original; but the proto-Aryan form..was caused by some accidental circumstance.1964M. E. Krauss in Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics XXX. 118 (title) *Proto-Athapaskan-Eyak and the problem of NaDene: the phonology.1966J. T. Wilson in Nature 13 Aug. 676/1 It is proposed that, in Lower Palaeozoic time, a *proto-Atlantic Ocean existed so as to form the boundary between the two realms, and that during Middle and Upper Palaeozoic time the ocean closed by stages.1972Sci. Amer. Nov. 62/3 In Devonian times an order of jawless freshwater fishes, cousins to the orders that once flourished on opposite sides of the proto-Atlantic, inhabited the streams of the region that is now the European and Asiatic flanks of the Urals.1918Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CVIII. 382 This fossil human skull of a not yet adult *Proto-Australian presents..the general picture of a cranium similar in all respects to the cranium of the Australian of to-day.Ibid., The Proto-Australian is, in some very important features, to be sharply differentiated from Neanderthal man. This is nowhere more clearly seen than in the palate and teeth.1923R. B. Dixon Racial Hist. Man iv. ii. 374 The Australian population thus appears to be made up almost entirely of two types, the *Proto-Negroid and *Proto-Australoid, of which the former is concentrated in the north and northwest, the latter in the south and southeast.1959Proto-Australoid [see gerontomorphic a.].1963G. B. Milner in C. Mohrmann et al. Trends in Mod. Linguistics 68 Dempwolff had found a sufficient body of evidence to justify his setting up a Proto-Melanesian language..as he had reconstructed a Proto-Polynesian language, both of which he regarded as ultimately descended from *Proto-Austronesian.1976Language LII. 221 The systematic reconstruction of Proto-Austronesian..phonology and lexicon was first attempted by Otto Dempwolff.1889I. Taylor Orig. Aryans iii. 182 The higher culture of the Semites, which again was derived from the *proto-Babylonian people.1899R. Munro Prehist. Scot. iii. 246 The horned weapons are products of the *proto-Celtic stratum which lies chronologically between the earlier megalithic chambers and the later Gaulish tumuli.1894E. Robinson in Nation (N.Y.) 31 May 405/2 Of the early styles,..and, most of all, the so-called ‘*proto-Corinthian’.1907Athenæum 6 July 20/2 In one of the primitive graves laid bare..in the Forum was found a small vase of the proto-Corinthian class.1932Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Sept. 622/4 Corinth, where the Protocorinthian style forms a natural transition between the Geometric and the Orientalizing.1973Univ. Oxf. Ann. Rep. 1970–71 8 Publications: ‘A Protocorinthian Dinos and Stand’.1876Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 21 The architect invents the *protodoric column.1969Times 18 July 6/4 The *proto-earth may have swept up from the dust cloud much more silicate material than it now possesses.1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 18/2 Most probably, the Moon formed from a dense atmosphere, generated by the high temperatures of solid-particle accretion at the surface of the proto-Earth.1901A. J. Evans in Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 12 Feb. 339/1 A survival of this *Proto-Egyptian class in the Libyan regions.1950Language XXVI. 9 A concrete example of how this type of intermediate reconstruction can be done and what it gives us can be seen in the phonological system of *Proto-Gallo-Romance.1964Ibid. XL. 32 If Provençal should turn out to belong to it, ‘Proto-Gallo-Romance’ is the obvious choice.1946Stud. in Philol. XLIII. 463 Then with a similarly acquired statement of Proto-Provençal, we can formulate *Proto-Gallo-Romanic.1934Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. iv. 236 The Proto-Italic and *Proto-Germanic peoples.1960Amer. Speech XXXV. 227 From pre-Scandinavian or Proto-Germanic to Old and Modern Icelandic.1964Language XL. 294 Next he reviews the history of the problem of the Proto-Germanic long stops.1972Ibid. XLVIII. 407 Proto-Germanic, which should be based on the internal reconstructions of the individual dialects.1901Pilot 26 Jan. 103/1 Hitherto..called ‘Mycenæan’ or *proto-Greek art.1959T. Burton-Brown Early Medit. Migrations iii. 66 There were established, from at least as early as the end of the Third Millennium, some kind of ‘proto-Greek’ people.1964E. Palmer tr. Martinet's Elem. Gen. Linguistics v. 149 Tsakonian is a proto-Greek dialect.1968W. S. Allen Vox Graeca i. 30 It may be mentioned that in Proto-Greek, and still preserved in Mycenaean, there was a series of ‘labio-velars’.1933E. H. Sturtevant Compar. Gram. Hittite Lang. i. 29 There seems to be no need for the cumbrous terms ‘*Proto-Hattic’ or ‘Proto-Hittite’.1948D. Diringer Alphabet v. 89 Some scholars call them ‘Proto-Hattic’ or ‘Proto-Hittite’.1924A. H. Sayce in Jrnl. R. Asiatic Soc. 245 *Proto-Hittite is the name given by Dr. Forrer to the prefixal language, examples of which are found in the cuneiform texts of Boghaz Keui.1952O. R. Gurney Hittites vi. 122 The name Proto-Hittite has been widely adopted in order to avoid confusion with the official Hittite, but is somewhat misleading, since it suggests an earlier stage of Hittite, whereas it is a language totally unrelated to the latter. The name Hattian is preferable.1947R. S. Wells in Word III. 15 Linguists have reconstructed large parts of the vocabulary of *Proto-Indo-European.1955W. P. Lehmann in Language XXXI. 355 (title) Proto-Indo-European Resonants in Germanic.1960Amer. Speech XXXV. 227 Specific laryngeal problems in Proto-Indo-European phonology.1979Amer. Speech 1978 LIII. 266 We have virtually no evidence for the earlier history of Proto-Indo-European forms.1890Cent. Dict. s.v., [Figure] *Proto-Ionic Capital, discovered in the Troad.1968Language XLIV. 269 On the evidence of Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian, *Proto-Italic still had the phrasally prior final consonants that have disappeared in Proto-Romance.1976Archivum Linguisticum VII. 62 Oscan -tt- represents a proto-Italic cluster *-ky-.1976Sci. Amer. May 113/1 James B. Pollack and his co-workers..suggest that exactly the same process would have taken place within the miniature solar system of the Jovian satellites, with the *proto-Jupiter the source of the heat.1909A. C. Haddon Races of Man 18 Indo-Chinese, Parcæans or Southern Mongols:..Those members who spread into the East Indian Archipelago are often called Oceanic Mongols, but a better term is *Proto-Malays; and it is from these the true Malay is derived.Ibid. 14 The broadening of the head is probably due to an early mixture with a Proto-Malay stock.1947,1958Proto-Malay [see Jakun].1964W. A. Hamid in W. Gungwu Malaysia iii. xii. 179 The Proto-Malays are the tribes to be found in the interior forests among the foothills of the Malay archipelago.1889I. Taylor Orig. Aryans iii. 184 Non-Aryan tribes, such as the *proto-Medes,..the Etruscans, and the Picts.1877A. H. Sayce in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1875–6 136 In *Protomedic and Susianian..the initial is similarly always dropped in the plural of the verb.1880― Introd. Sci. Lang. ii. x. 321 The Protomedic group of languages to which Accadian belongs, in the Ural-Altaic family.1894Protomedic [see Medic n.2].1972Sci. Amer. Apr. 116/1 Primate forms found in fossil forest beds deposited 35 million years ago beside the *proto-Nile.1975Nature 29 May 376/1 Young rift oceans (*proto-oceans) are commonly the site of large scale evaporite deposition.1893F. Adams New Egypt 38 An expedition of acquisition, a truly *Proto-Phœnician trait!1930R. Paget Human Speech vii. 145 Several other gesture-words from *Proto-Polynesian.1973Amer. Speech 1970 XLV. 118 The reconstruction of some proto-Polynesian forms.1949Archivum Linguisticum I. 151 The *Proto-Romance consonant clusters... We use this term, instead of the vague..‘Vulgar Latin’.1978Language LIV. 182 There is no discussion of proto-morphophonemics, which might conceivably have raised the issue of umlaut in Proto-Romance.1948D. Diringer Alphabet 214 The *proto-Semitic alphabet.1969Word XXV. 115 The Proto-Semitic consonant system is generally assumed to have had a voiced velar stop phoneme */g/ as established by a set of correspondences throughout the Semitic family.1920Trans. Philol. Soc. 1916–20 128 In *Proto-Slavonic all final consonants fell out.Ibid. 130 Beside the palatalization there is another sweeping tendency in Proto-Slavonic phonology.1951Archivum Linguisticum III. 205 The work is a succinct presentation of Protoslavonic morphology.1975Nature 11 Sept. 91/1 S. Ramadurai..argued that carbonaceous chondrites contain interstellar graphite grains from the *protosolar nebula.1978Ibid. 16 Mar. 239/2 Further conditions which must be satisfied are..penetration of this element into the protosolar cloud.1974Sci. Amer. Mar. 51/3 At a distance of perhaps 20 million miles from the *protosun, a fifth of the way to the present orbit of the earth, a very few nonvolatile materials could have condensed into solid particles.1969Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xv. 346 The consequent drainage pattern developed on the eastwards-tilted Mesozoic rocks included the *proto-Thames.b. In terms, chiefly of Zoology or Biology: usually designating an (actual or hypothetical) original or primitive form, type, organism, structure, etc. ‖ proˈtamnion, a hypothetical primitive amniotic animal, the supposed common ancestor of mammals, birds, and reptiles. ‖ protaˈmœba, a genus of Protozoa having lobate pseudopodia like the amœba (cf. protogenes); hence protaˈmœban, a. belonging to or having the characters of this genus; n. a member of this genus; protaˈmœboid a., resembling a protamœba. proˈtamphirhine, the ancestral type of the amphirhine or double-nostrilled vertebrates. ‖ proˈtastacus [Gr. ἀστακός lobster, crayfish], the ancestral type of the Astacidæ or crayfishes; hence proˈtastacine |-saɪn| a. protaˈxonial a., in Morphol., having the parts arranged about a single primary or main axis; of or pertaining to Protaxonia. proˈtembryo: see quot.; hence protembryˈonic a. ‖ protenˈcephalon, the first of the three primary cerebral vesicles of the embryo. protˈhelminth [Gr. ἕλµινς, ἑλµινθ- worm], a protozoön of the order Prothelmintha, comprising most of the Infusoria, regarded as representing an ancestral type of worms; hence prothelˈminthic a.; so ‖ protˈhelmis, a hypothetical ancestral type of worms. prothyalosomal |prəʊθaɪələʊˈsəʊməl| a., pertaining to the prothyalosoma [Gr. υἅλος glass + σῶµα body], ‘Van Beneden's name (1883) for the envelope of the nucleolus of an ovum’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). ‖ prothysteron |prəʊˈθɪstərɒn| Rhet. [Gr. πρωθύστερον] = hysteron proteron. protichnite |-ˈɪknaɪt|, Palæont. [see ichnite], one of the fossil tracks found in the Potsdam sandstone of Canada, supposed to be those of a trilobite or allied animal. proto-ˈbiface Archæol., an early form of biface. ˈprotoblast [see -blast], (a) a cell of a primitive or simple form, consisting of a mass of protoplasm with no investing membrane or cell-wall; (b) ‘the nucleus of the ovum’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). protoˈblastic a. = holoblastic. protoˈblastoderm, the primitive blastoderm or investing layer of the fertilized ovum. proto-ˈcarinate, a. belonging to those primitive birds having a carinate or keeled breast-bone; n. one of such birds. ˈprotocell, a body postulated as ancestral to the cell. protoˈcercal a., Ichth., having a tail-fin of the primitive form, continuous with the dorsal and ventral fins. ˈprotocere |-sɪə(r)| [Gr. κέρας horn], the rudiment of the antler of a deer, the process developed in the first year. ‖ protoˈcerebrum, (a) the anterior cerebral vesicle of the embryo, which develops into the cerebrum; (b) the anterior segment of the brain of an arthropod; hence protoˈcerebral a. protocœˈlomate, an animal belonging to the Protocœˈlomata, a proposed division of Metazoa characterized by a primitive enteric cavity with simple cœlomic sacs, as most sponges; hence protocœloˈmatic a. ˈprotocloud Astr., a protogalactic cloud. ˈprotocluster Astr. = prec.. protocneme |ˈprəʊtəʊkniːm| Zool. [Gr. κνήµα tibia; cf. cnemial a.], one of six pairs of primary mesenteries which are found in corals of the order Scleractinia. ˈprotoconch |-kɒŋk| [see conch], the embryonic shell in certain cephalopods; hence protoˈconchal a. protoˈdipnoan, a hypothetical primitive dipnoan. protoˈdolomite Min., a mineral with a composition near that of dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2, but an imperfect crystal structure. ˈprotodome Cryst., a primary dome. protodyˈnastic a., Anc. Hist., belonging to the first or earliest (Egyptian) dynasties. protoˈenstatite Min., an artificial, high-temperature form of the magnesium silicate MgSiO3. protoˈfibril Biol., a filament of protein that is a component structural element of a fibril or spec. of a microfibril. protoˈfilament Biol., a filament of protein, about 5 nanometres in diameter, a group of which constitute a microtubule. protoˌforaˈminifer (pl. -foramiˈnifera), a primitive foraminifer. ‖ protoˈgaster [Gr. γαστήρ stomach]: see quot. protoˈgastric a. [as prec.], (a) a term designating two lobes, one on each side, towards the front of the gastro-hepatic area of the carapace in brachyurous Crustaceans; (b) pertaining to the protogaster. protoˈhuman n. and a. Anthrop., (pertaining to or being) one of the man-like prehistoric creatures from which man is held to have evolved. protoˈlemur, a term including various extinct insectivorous mammals as the supposed ancestral types of the lemurs. ˈprotolife, inanimate existence representing a late stage in the evolution of life. ˈprotolith Petrol. [Gr. λίθ-ος stone] (see quot. 1972). protoˈlithionite Min. [ad. G. protolithionit (F. Sandberger Untersuchungen über Erzgänge (1885) ii. 169): cf. lithionite], a variety of zinnwaldite containing a higher proportion of lithium and a lower proportion of iron. ‖ protoˈmala [L. māla jaw], each member of the first pair of jaws or mandibles in the Myriapoda; hence protoˈmalal, protoˈmalar adjs. protoˈmeristem Bot., the meristem or generating tissue of the youngest parts of plants; primary meristem (Russow (in Ger.) 1872). proˈtomerite [Gr. µέρος part], the first or anterior segment of a polycystid gregarine, as distinguished from the larger posterior segment (deuteromerite or deutomerite); hence protomeˈritic a. proˈtomesal a., Entom. [Gr. µέσος middle], applied to a series of cells in the wings of hymenopterous insects; now called the second, third, and fourth submarginal or cubital cells. ˈprotomorph [Gr. µορϕή form], a primitive or original form; so protoˈmorphic a., having the primitive or simplest form or structure. protoˈmyxoid a., resembling Protomyxa [Gr. µύξα slime], a genus of myxopodous Protozoa. proto-Neoˈlithic a. Archæol., belonging to or characteristic of the earliest Neolithic period; also absol. as n. protoneˈphridium Zool. [mod.L., coined in Ger. by B. Hatschek Lehrb. der Zool. (1889) II. 160: see nephridium], in certain invertebrates, esp. flatworms, an excretory system made up of solenocytes opening into ducts leading to pores in the exterior surface; also, a larval nephridium of this type; so protoneˈphridial a. ‖ protoˈnephron [Gr. νεϕρός kidney], the primitive kidney in the embryo of vertebrates, consisting of the pronephron, mesonephron, and metanephron; hence protoˈnephric a. protoˈnucleate a., having a primitive nucleus; belonging to the Protonucleata, a hypothetical group of Protozoa regarded as the ancestors of all other animals. proto-ˈorganism, a primitive or unicellular organism, animal or vegetable; a protozoön or protophyte. proto-ˈornithoid a. [Gr. ὀρνις, ὀρνιθ- bird], of the most ancient or primitive birdlike type. ˌprotoperiˈthecium, in some fungi, an ascogonium from which have grown out one or more trichogynes, some of which develop into part of a perithecium if spermatization occurs; hence ˌprotoperiˈthecial a. protopeˈtroleum [mod.L., coined in Ger. by C. Engler 1897, in Ber. d. Deut. Chem. Ges. XXX. 2360], an intermediate product in the formation of petroleum from organic debris. ˈprotophenomenon Philos., a primary phenomenon. protoˈphloem Bot., the tissue from which the phloem is developed; the primitive phloem of a fibro-vascular bundle (Russow (in Ger.) 1872). [a. G. protophloëm (E. Russow 1873, in Mém. Acad. Impér. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg 7 sér. XIX. 4]. ˈprotopod a. Ent. [ad. It. protopodo (A. Berlese 1913, in Redia IX. 127)], of an insect larva, lacking abdominal segmentation and limbs. protoˈpodial a., pertaining to a protopodium. proˈtopodite [see podite], in Crustacea, the first or basal joint of a limb, which articulates with its somite; hence protopoˈditic a. ‖ protoˈpodium [see podium 2 b], a primitive or typical foot in Molluscs. ˈprotoprism Cryst., a primary prism. protoˈproteose Biochem., any of a class of proteoses that are soluble in water and dilute salt solutions and are formed during gastric secretion. protoˈpyramid Cryst., a primary pyramid. protoˈscolex Zool., a vesicle formed from the germinal layer of a hydatid cyst and capable of development into a scolex or a secondary cyst. protoˈseismograph [see seismograph], an instrument for recording the beginning or first trace of an earthquake shock. protoˈsiphon, the primitive or rudimentary siphon or siphuncle in the protoconch of certain cephalopods; also ‖ protosiˈphonula. protoˈsomite, each of the rudimentary somites or segments of the embryo in arthropods and annelids. hence protosoˈmitic a. ˈprotospasm Path., a local spasm preceding a general convulsion. protoˈspermatoblast [see sperm and -blast], term for certain cells from which spermatozoa are formed: see quot. protoˈspongian a., designating a primitive stage in the development of a sponge. ˈprotospore Bot., a primary spore or spore-like body in certain fungi, corresponding to the prothallium in higher cryptogams. ˈprotostele Bot. [stele 2], a simple type of stele in which a central core of xylem is surrounded by a cylinder of phloem: hence protostelic |-ˈstiːlɪk| a. proˈtostoma [Gr. στόµα mouth]: see quot. for protogaster. protosysteˈmatic a., Cryst., belonging to a primary system. protoˈtergite Entom. [L. tergum back], the first dorsal segment of the abdomen of an insect. ˈprototheca Zool. [theca], a cup-shaped basal plate which is formed at the start of the development of a colony of stony corals. protoˈtoxin: see quot.; so protoˈtoxoid = protoxoid: see toxin and toxoid. ˈprototroch Zool. [Gr. τροχός wheel], a pre-oral ciliated ridge encircling the body of the trochosphere larva of certain invertebrates, including polychæte worms and some annelids and molluscs. protoverˈmiculite Min., a mineral similar in composition to vermiculite but containing more water, and found as large yellow or brown scales. protoˈvertebra, (a) Comp. Anat. in Carus's nomenclature (1828) applied to the ribs reckoned as the first set of vertebræ; (b) Embryol. each of the segments, formerly considered as primitive (temporary) vertebræ, in the early embryo of a vertebrate; hence protoˈvertebral a., pertaining to or of the nature of a protovertebra. protoˈvertebrate a., (a) furnished with protovertebræ; (b) belonging to the Protovertebrata, the hypothetical ancestral forms of vertebrate animals. ‖ proˈtovum, an ovum in its first or primitive stage, e.g. before impregnation, or (in the case of a meroblastic ovum) before the formation of the food-yolk (cf. metovum). protoxylem |-ˈzaɪlɛm| Bot., the tissue from which the xylem is developed; the primitive xylem of a fibro-vascular bundle. [a. G. protoxylem (E. Russow 1873, in Mém. Acad. Impér. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg 7th Ser. XIX. 3)]. protoˈzonite Entom. [Gr. ζώνη girdle], each of the primitive or rudimentary segments of the body of an insect in the embryonic stage. proˈtureter, the primitive ureter, the excretory duct of the protonephron. See also protohippus, protophyte, protozoa, etc.1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man xviii. II. 134 This unknown common parent-form is the Primitive Amnion Animal (*Protamnion). In external appearance the Protamnion was most probably an intermediate form between the Salamanders and the Lizards.1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. ii. 79 It is open to doubt..whether either *Protamœba, Protogenes, or Myxodictyum is anything but one stage of a cycle of forms.1883J. E. Ady in Knowledge 15 June 355/2 The thousands of other *protamœboid creatures.1869Huxley Crit. & Addr. xii. (1873) 317 From this ‘*Protamphirhine’ were developed, in divergent lines, the true Sharks, Rays, and Chimæræ; the Ganoids, and the Dipneusta.1880― Crayfish vi. 344 The common *protastacine form is to be sought in the Trias.1878― in Proc. Zool. Soc. 787 A Crustacean..which we may call provisionally *Protastacus.1887Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 397 The stages of holoblastic ova may be..classified as follows..(1) The ovum or Monoplast..; (2) the first stage of segmentation..; (3) the second stage of segmentation... We have proposed to classify these stages under the name of *Protembryo.1887T. J. Parker in Proc. Zool. Soc. 37 The..unpaired portion of the *protencephalon (embryonic fore-brain).1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man xvii. II. 76 The common parent-form of the whole Worm tribe (the *Prothelmis).1873Dawson Earth & Man iii. 45 Some of the most ancient sandstones have their surfaces covered with rows of punctured impressions (*Protichnites, first foot-prints).1880Libr. Univ. Knowl. (U.S.) VII. 772 The sandstone beds which contain the protichnites.1975Nature 7 Aug. 470/2 Some protohandaxes may have one face made entirely of cortex, so not all of these artefacts can be called *protobifaces and the term protohandaxes is preferable.1976Ibid. 8 July 104/2 Other tool forms, such as..protobifaces..occur with less frequency.1872Packard Embryol. Stud. Hexapodous Insects (Peabody Acad. Sci. I. Mem. iii.) 6 The primitive blastodermic skin..or as it might be termed, *protoblastoderm.1901Ibis Apr. 343 That in Rhea we have represented the *proto-carinate wing-type of to-day.1965S. W. Fox Orig. Prebiol. Syst. 372 The explanation has been extended to permit us to visualize a spontaneous synthesis of protein-like material sufficiently similar to yield a *protocell which could spontaneously include ATP-splitting ability.1974Ponnamperuma & Gabel in Carlile & Skehel Evolution in Microbial World 407 Oparin does not in any way imply that the coacervates he and his associates have studied were the actual precursors of the protocell.1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 236 Carbonaceous meteorites also contain organic spheres, and mineral grains coated with organic sheaths, that have been likened to ‘protocells’.1892J. A. Thomson Outl. Zool. xx. 403 The end of the notochord in the tail is quite straight (*protocercal and diphycercal).1885Wilder in N. York Med. Jrnl. 28 Mar. 354 *Proto⁓cerebrum, a monomial..significant equivalent for..cerebral rudiment.1897Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XL. 261 Viallanes has shown, by his very careful researches on the structure of the adult brain.., that it consists in insects of three segments... The first or protocerebrum, including the optic centres, corresponds to the first segment in Peripatus.1969New Scientist 10 July 56/2 It is generally known that the regulating clock mechanism of insects lies in the protocerebrum.1970Nature 31 Oct. 412/1 A *protocloud formed at that time would initially expand with the Universe, but at a reduced rate.1971Proc. Internat. School of Physics ‘Enrico Fermi’ XLVII. 336 The density fluctuations associated with *protoclusters—and a fortiori protogalaxies—would be too small to be detected.1976Nature 11 Nov. 114/2 Four stages might usefully be distinguished: (1) the creation of a massive protocluster cloud; (2) the separation of individual protostars from such a protocluster cloud; [etc.].1900*Protocneme [see metacneme s.v. meta- 4].1916H. S. Pratt Man. Common Invertebr. Animals 138 The gullet is joined with the body wall by all of the protocnemes.1940L. H. Hyman Invertebrates I. vii. 589 These original twelve septa, which arise as couples, are called protocnemes.1956J. W. Wells in R. C. Moore Treat. Invertebr. Paleont. f 333/2 When the first 6 mesenteric pairs (comprising 12 protocnemes) have developed the embryonic period [of scleractinians] is terminated.1884Hyatt in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 113 Anatomically, the Sponges may be called Metazoa protocœlomata... We can readily transform a *protocœlomate into a trochocœlomate by destroying the horizontal parts of the partitions.1888Ibid. XXIII. 542 The *protoconch of Owen, in Cephalopods, is the early shell which precedes the conch, or true shell. Professors Hyatt and Brooks consider the protoconch in cephalous molluscs as..probably derived from the periconch of Scaphopods.1955Graf & Goldsmith in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LXVI. 1566 These poorly ordered near dolomites, or *protodolomites, also have been observed to form during the rapid cooling of dry periclase-calcite assemblages through the dolomite stability field.Ibid. 1567 In view of their relatively narrow compositional range, it appears probable that protodolomites have a relatively high degree of short-range Ca-Mg order, rather than being merely metastable, disordered, high-magnesium calcites.1967Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 151 The deficiency of magnesium in the Red Sea brine might be caused by dolomitization of the carbonate rocks (some evidence of which is found in the presence of crystals of protodolomite in the core from the Discovery Deep).1878Gurney Crystallogr. 52 The former [dome] is distinguished as the *protodome.1902Daily Chron. 6 Oct. 3/1 The period of the first three dynasties..requires a designation of its own,..the word ‘*proto⁓dynastic’ appears to be suitable.1902Nature 6 Nov. 14/2 [Professor E. Smith] intends to give a full account of the structure of the brain in the predynastic and protodynastic Egyptians.1962S. E. Finer Man on Horseback vii. 89 These are the traditional monarchies where the ideals of nationality, liberty, equality and popular sovereignty have not yet penetrated. Another and better description is perhaps the proto-dynastic societies, societies where allegiance is owed to the dynasty.1977G. Clark World Prehist. (ed. 3) v. 236 There can be no doubt of the existence precisely at the period of transition from the Predynastic to the Protodynastic or Archaic period of Egyptian history of innovations that stemmed from Mesopotamian sources.1939Jrnl. Amer. Ceramic Soc. XVIII. 110/1 Constitution of steatite... On heating to 800°, talc lost its H2O and was transformed into *protoenstatite.1962Ibid. XLV. 156/2 The rate of the metastable inversion of protoenstatite to clinoenstatite during cooling is very sensitive to particle size.1965L. Bragg et al. Crystal Struct. Minerals xii. 236 The detailed shape and relative positions of the silicate chains depend on the relative positions of the Mg atoms and their surrounding, octahedrally coordinated, oxygens. In protoenstatite the chains are fully extended, whereas in enstatite and clinoenstatite they are slightly different in shape and not fully extended.1961Filshie & Rogers in Jrnl. Molecular Biol. III. 785 It can be observed..that a high concentration of lead has entered each microfibril and become bound to preferred sites, revealing a composite structure consisting of filamentous subunits relatively unstained by lead (henceforth to be referred to as *protofibrils) each of the order of 20 Å in diameter.1966New Scientist 24 Feb. 480/2 Protofibrils, some 20 angstroms wide, may be observed to occur in a regular array, and it is widely accepted that they aggregate around an annulus, with perhaps nine outer protofibrils and two further protofibrils inside.1971Nature 22 Jan. 253/1 Wood fibres are hollow tubes composed of layers of cellulosic protofibrils embedded in a matrix of hemicellulose and lignin.1971Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. LXVIII. 1766 If we assume a *protofilament arrangement of monomeric subunits..in a microtubule, it becomes apparent that a homofilament microtubule can be constructed only if the number of protofilaments is even (i.e. 12 or 14 in the usual model) while a heterofilament microtubule always results if an odd number (11 or 13) of protofilaments are assembled.1977Jrnl. Protozool. XXIV. 4/1 Microtubules..can be thought of as protofilaments that are end-to-end polymers of dimers which are then bound together to form a tube with an open lumen.1875Dawson Dawn of Life viii. 215 Eozoon [etc.], our *proto-foraminifera.1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man viii. I. 194, I shall call the central cavity of the Gastrula-body the primitive intestine (*protogaster), and its opening the primitive mouth (protostoma).1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. vi. 343 The latter is..sub⁓divided into two epigastric lobes, two *protogastric lobes, a median mesogastric lobe, two metagastric lobes and two urogastric lobes.1910Daily Chron. 9 Apr. 6/2 The Oceanic negro is far removed from primitive man, but..he inherits, as we all do, but happily in a lesser degree, the savage instincts of the *proto-human.1954L. C. Eiseley in W. L. Thomas Current Anthropol. 69/1 We have..stumbled into the world of essentially cultureless or almost cultureless proto-human types which are diverse in form because they represent evolution still at work upon the parts of the body.1954W. La Barre Human Animal iv. 83 The linearity of man, his relative hairlessness, his clothing, and his culture-based carnivorousness suggest that the proto-humans, like the anthropoids, were warm-climate-adapted animals.1971R. M. & F. M. Keesing New Perspectives in Cultural Anthropol. 45 Sharing must be viewed as a crucial protohuman innovation.1978Sci. Amer. Apr. 94/1 Excavation of these protohuman sites has revealed evidence suggesting that two million years ago some elements that now distinguish man from apes were already party of a novel adaptative strategy.1887A. Heilprin Distrib. Anim. iii. ii. 348 By Trouessart they [certain mammals of tertiary age] are all ranged with the Insectivora as the group of the *proto⁓lemurs.1966Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. II. 54 The formation of cobionts and *protolife through inorganic photosynthesis stopped at the beginning of this period of transition.1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 236/1 The stromatolites are universally regarded as the remains of true life: the earlier microscopic fossils may well also represent the remains of blue-green algae, but it is perfectly probable that they represent some form of primitive protolife.1972Gloss. Geol. (Amer. Geol. Inst.) 571/2 *Protolith, the unmetamorphosed rock from which a given metamorphic rock was formed by metamorphism. Syn: parent rock.1974Nature 15 Mar. 199/1 This investigation attempts to decipher the premetamorphic age of the protolith of a recrystallised breccia from Apollo 16.1892Dana's Syst. Min. (ed. 6) vi. 627 *Protolithionite, a lithium-iron mica from the granite of the Erzgebirge, Fichtelgebirge, etc. Color dark. Optically nearly uniaxial... Sandberger regards it as the source of the zinnwaldite, hence the name.1959Amer. Mineralogist XLIV. 1297 It is a lithium-iron mica, closely related to zinnwaldite and containing a large amount of the protolithionite component of the lepidolite series.1883Packard in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. June 198 [In Myriapoda] the *protomala consists of two portions, the cardo and stipes, while the hexapodous mandible is invariably composed of but one piece,..which corresponds to the stipes of the myriapodous protomala.Ibid. 203 The *protomalal and deutomalal arthromeres.1881Nature XXIII. 288/1 Dr. Jakob Eriksson describes in a lengthened paper the *protomeristem of the roots of Dicotyledons.1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 550 The young anther consists at first of a small-celled proto-meristem in which a fibro-vascular bundle becomes differentiated lying in the axis of the connective.1885,1921*Protomerite [see epimerite].1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 858 [In] the Polycystidea [the body] is divided by two septa into three segments... The first segment is the epimerite; it is the part from which the other two segments bud out... The second segment is the protomerite, the third and by far the largest, the deuteromerite.1962J. D. Smyth Introd. Animal Parasitol. vi. 73 In some forms [of gregarines], the protomerite is drawn out into a specialised region for attachment.1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxv. 632 The medial areolets of the Intermediate Area..form three distinct series; these may be called the *protomesal, deuteromesal, and tritomesal, reckoning from the postcostal areolets.1876J. J. G. Wilkinson Hum. Sc. & Div. Rev. 58 The growth of evils from their first wicked thoughts or germs, from their true *protomorphs, tiny and unperceived, to monstrous destructions.1859Todd's Cycl. Anat. V. 476/1 The integumentary *protomorphic line.1867H. Spencer Princ. Biol. §290 II. 289 A protomorphic layer, which differentiates in opposite directions.1883P. Geddes in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 846/2 The writer has attempted to explain the forms of free and united cells as specializations of a (*protomyxoid) cycle in which variations of functional activity are accompanied by the assumption of corresponding forms.1921R. A. S. Macalister Text-bk. European Archaeol. I. x. 549 A culture independent of any of those which we have now considered, namely the ‘*Protoneolithic’ Campignian.1924[see Asturian a. and n.].1931Antiquity V. 520 Menghin distinguishes a Protoneolithic, and a Mixoneolithic, in the latter of which the Neolithic arts found their full expression.1960C. Winick Dict. Anthropol. 440/2 Protoneolithic, in some classifications, the lower, or early, Neolithic era, consisting of the Campignian and Ertebole cultures.1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man xxv. II. 412 In all low Skulled Animals (Craniota), without amnion..the primitive kidneys (*protonephra), though much modified,..act permanently as urine-secreting glands.1895*Protonephridial [see protonephridium below].1963R. P. Dales Annelids v. 98 The metanephridial funnels or protonephridial solenocytes lie in the coelomic fluid.1895E. S. Goodrich in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXXVII. 479 The nephridia of the Planarians..are formed of a main duct, which branches out into fine tubules ending blindly internally in flame-cells; they do not develop beyond this ‘protonephridial’ condition—*protonephridium of Hatschek.1900Ibid. XLIII. 742 For its [sc. the nephridium's] closed representation..and for closed ‘head-kidneys’, the term Protonephridium might, perhaps, be used with advantage. It is the name proposed by Hatschek for the closed nephridia of the Platyhelminths.1930,1967[see metanephridium s.v. meta- 4].1949A. S. Romer Vertebrate Body ii. 19 The excretory organs [of Amphioxus]..are tiny tubes (protonephridia) of a type found in certain invertebrates.1978L. C. Oglesby in P. J. Mill Physiol. Annelids xiv. 619 In only one group, the Rotifera, is there direct evidence that the protonephridia serve an osmoregulatory role.1861N. Syd. Soc. Year-bk. Med. 113 Genesis of the *Proto⁓organisms found in Calcined Air, and in Putrescible Substances that have been heated to 150°.1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Protoörganism, one of the simplest of organised beings, capable of being referred either to the animal or vegetable kingdom.1883W. Sikes in Harper's Mag. Feb. 332/2 Slab..extending the..area of *proto-ornithoid forms of life from longitude 72° to 4°.1955G. M. Smith Cryptogamic Bot. (ed. 2) I. xii. 450 If appropriate spermatidia or conidia are not available for the trichogynes, there is no further development beyond the *protoperithecial stage.1976Ann. Rev. Microbiol. XXX. 98 Nutritional control is important for the initiation of protoperithecial development and conidiogenesis.1941Bot. Rev. VII. 396 A haploid mycelium or a multicellular trichogyne of Neurospora sitophila.., through which nuclei of opposite sex are passing en route to the ascogonium in a *proto-perithecium, where they are destined to take part in the formation of the first pair or pairs of conjugate nuclei.1974Nature 24 May 383/1 In N[eurospora] crassa, protoperithecia have been induced to develop into fruiting bodies, albeit sterile.1909Econ. Geol. IV. 625 Engler thus enumerates the various stages which in his opinion occur in the formation of petroleum from organic matter:..4. Formation of liquid hydrocarbons and violent reaction with ‘cracking’ into light or gaseous products = formation of *protopetroleum.1938B. T. Brooks in A. E. Dunstan et al. Sci. of Petroleum I. 52/1 Accordingly it might be expected that protopetroleums in transition stages will be found in geologically recent strata in the form of solid or semi-solid material.1973R. E. Chapman Petroleum Geol. ii. 32 There is general agreement that the main source of petroleum is the organic matter buried with a fine-grained sediment (usually a clay); and that diagenesis of this organic matter leads to a ‘protopetroleum’ which, before or during migration, becomes modified by the physical and chemical environment—particularly by increasing temperature during burial—until it eventually becomes petroleum.1953G. E. M. Anscombe tr. Wittgenstein's Philos. Investigations i. 167 Our mistake is to look for an explanation where we ought to look at what happens as a ‘*proto-phenomenon’. That is, where we ought to have said: this language-game is played.1966Amer. Philos. Q. III. 7/1 We should look simply at what is said as a proto⁓phenomenon.1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 390 The first primitive elements of the phloem, Russow's *protophloem.1898tr. Strasburger's Bot. i. i. 105 In fully-developed vascular bundles the protoxylem and protophloem cease to perform their functions.1902Protophloem [see metaphloem s.v. meta- 4].1953K. Esau Plant Anat. xii. 286 The primary phloem may be divided into protophloem and metaphloem.1965Protophloem [see metaphloem s.v. meta- 4].1925A. D. Imms Gen. Textbk. Entomol. 179 In the *protopod phase metamerism is incomplete, the abdomen being imperfectly differentiated.1934Folsom & Wardle Entomol. (ed. 4) iii. 172 The protopod larva is characterized by a lack of differentiation of the internal and external organs.1969R. F. Chapman Insects xx. 400 Among the parasitic Hymenoptera the first instar larva hatches as a type known as a protopod larva.1870Rolleston Anim. Life 94 (Common Crayfish) The appendages of the..post-abdominal segments consist of a biarticulate ‘*protopodite’ [etc.].1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. vi. 273 Two pairs of appendages, composed each of a protopodite, terminated by an endopodite and exopodite.1880Gill in Smithsonian Rep. 361 The valve of the siphon [in Cephalopods] is a true foot or *protopodium, and the two lateral folds are pteropodia.1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. 283 The hexagonal deutero-prism..is identical in features with the *proto-prism... The horizontal sections of the proto- and deutero-prisms are regular hexagons.1891,1916*Protoproteose [see heteroproteose s.v. hetero-].1936A. P. Mathews Princ. Biochem. xxii. 221 ‘Proto-proteoses’, precipitated by half saturation of their solutions by ammonium sulphate.1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. 291 The trigonal *proto-pyramid may be regarded..as being a limiting case of the ditrigonal proto-pyramid.1971Exper. Parasitol. XXX. 233/1 Protein synthesis in larval Echinococcus granulosus *protoscolices occurs by the pathway involving amino acyladenylates and amino acyl-tRNA as intermediates.1976Lancet 9 Oct. 811/2 Since the Lebanese also eat raw liver a hydatid of the tonsil might arise from implantation of a protoscolex in a tonsillar crypt.1881Friends' Intelligencer XXXVIII. 556 The *protoseismograph and the microseismograph,..with which Professor Palmieri..may detect the first faintest quiver which hints the coming earthquake.1893Hyatt in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 103 An aperture through which the *protosiphonula communicated with the protoconch.1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. v. 243 Generally, the development of the *proto⁓somites, as these segments might be called, does not occur until some time after the embryo has been hatched.Ibid. vi. 250 As with Annelids, the segmentation of the body results from the subdivision of the mesoblast by transverse constrictions into protosomites.1890Cent. Dict., Jacksonian epilepsy.., epilepsy in which the spasms are local... Such spasms are also called monospasms, or, when they are followed by general convulsions, *protospasms.1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 289 With this monospasm or protospasm there is often a tendency to generalisation.1889Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sc. Dec. 251 note, The spermatozoa of the Decapods studied by him [Sabatier] arise in large cells, the ‘*protospermatoblasts’.1884Hyatt in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 86 We have not been able to separate the *Protospongian stage of Haeckel from the ascula.1901L. A. Boodle in Ann. Bot. XV. 705 A centrally placed solid stele (*protostele), consisting of a central mass of xylem..surrounded by a continuous ring of phloem.1919F. O. Bower Bot. Living Plant xxi. 330 Generally in young sporelings there is a simple stele of a type called a ‘protostele’, having a solid xylem-core, and phloem surrounding it.1957H. C. Bold Morphol. Plants xxiii. 446 The most primitive genera and the juvenile stages of most others have stems that contain protosteles.1975J. D. Haynes Botany xxii. 331 The stele of most members of this group [sc. lycopods] is a protostele.1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 413/2 There is good reason to suppose that the *protostelic condition is primitive in evolution.1957H. C. Bold Morphol. Plants xxiii. 447 Internally the roots are exarch and protostelic.1878Gurney Crystallogr. 72 These are sometimes called the *protosystematic planes.1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. 110.1904H. M. Bernard in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. XIII. 4 The parent colony of a calicle rises out of a basal cup—the *Prototheca... The term ‘prototheca’ was suggested to me in conversation by my friend Prof. Jeffrey Bell.1906S. J. Hickson in Harmer & Shipley Cambr. Nat. Hist. I. xiv. 386 The calicoblasts form..a skeletal plate at the aboral end of the coral embryo, which becomes turned up at the edges to form a shallow saucer or cup. This cup is called the ‘prototheca’.1935Twenhofel & Shrock Invertebr. Paleont. iv. 78 The embryonic skeleton of a typical coelenterate has the shape and appearance of a little, hollow, conical cup and is known as the prototheca.1904Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Sept. 567 We have three different toxins with different toxicity and different avidities to the antitoxin, viz. the *prototoxin, the deutèrotoxin, and the tritotoxin.Ibid. 568 The prototoxin with the greatest avidity for the antitoxin and with the greatest toxicity..but..being comparatively labile it changes after some time into *prototoxoid.1897A. T. Masterman in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XL. 291 There are three prominent ciliated bands, the preoral (or *prototroch), the collar-band..and the trunk band.1904Amer. Naturalist XXXVIII. 500 Cells arising from the first quartette..make up a cell row which very probably forms at least a part of the second ciliated band on the head of the adult, in a position corresponding with that of the prototroch of the annelid larva.1932Borradaile & Potts Invertebrata vii. 207 A band of cilia round the base [of the Pilidium larva] constitutes the prototroch.1959Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. C. 89 The ectoderm of the mouth region [of the pre-adult Scoloplos armiger]..includes transitorily the prototroch cells.1978K. S. Richards in P. J. Mill Physiol. Annelids ii. 48 In the prototroch, the compounding of cilia helps to eliminate such lateral stresses.1877Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 269 Professor Geo. A. König described a micaceous mineral from Magnet Cove, Ark., to which he gave the name *Protovermiculite... The mineral occurs in large foliated plates, loose in the soil.1948Amer. Mineralogist XXXIII. 656 Protovermiculite from Magnet Cove, Arkansas. Large golden yellow scales.1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. v. 225 The mesoblast becomes divided into a series of quadrate masses, like the *protovertebrae of a vertebrate embryo.1881Mivart Cat 325 On each side of the medullary groove and notochord a series of quadrate thickenings appear, termed protovertebræ.1890Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Protovertebra, primitive segment of the mesoderm; myotome. When the name was given the myotomes were supposed to be the rudiments of the vertebræ. *Protovertebral column or plate, a thick column of cells lying along the medullary groove, from which by segmentation the protovertebræ are formed.1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. 223 The *protovum is thus transformed into the metovum (after-egg) which is many times larger..but..is only a single..cell.1887tr. Strasburger's Bot. viii. 86 We have found..in the wood portion (the xylem) of the fibro⁓vasal bundle, the primary wood, the *Protoxylem, composed of primary wood-parenchyma and of vessels.1898Ibid. i. i. 105 The protoxylem occupies the innermost, the proto⁓phloem the outermost side of a procambium strand.1902Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CXCV. 135 The protoxylem is separated from it [sc. the pith] by a large mass of primary metaxylem.1974New Phytologist LXXIII. 979 The helically thickened protoxylem..is stretched during the elongation of the axis.1871Packard Embryol. Stud. Diplax etc. (Peabody Acad. Sci. I. Mem. ii.) 16 The primitive arthromeres, or segments of the body (*protozonites [mispr. protozoonites] of Claparède).1872― Hexapodous Insects (Mem. iii.) 6 The cephalic lobes and succeeding protozonites are formed.1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man xxv. II. 406 We find a long tube, the primitive kidney duct (*protureter..), on each side.c. More widely, prefixed to adjs. and ns. designating an original, early, or undeveloped form of an artistic or political movement, as proto-Baroque, proto-Cubist adjs., proto-Fascism (hence proto-Fascist n. and adj.), proto-Marxian adj., proto-Renaissance (also attrib.), proto-romantic adj.1935Burlington Mag. Apr. 159/1 Why are the artists working about the year 1800 gothic-manneristic, classicistic, proto-Baroque, high Baroque?1977Dædalus Summer 2 Titian's removal of the Virgin..to the right side of the worshipers in his Pesaro Madonna—once considered a protobaroque stylistic invention.1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Nov. 767/2 If I can use the historical analogy again, with sixteenth-century Italy, the proto-Baroque or Mannerist period, which seems to have had the same kind of doubts and plu[r]alism characteristic of our age.1959H. Read Conc. Hist. Mod. Painting v. 156 The metamorphic Three Dancers is in fact a turning point in Picasso's art almost as radical as was the proto-cubist Demoiselles d'Avignon.1938New Statesman 19 Feb. 302/1 It [sc. racism] is proto-Fascism, based on mysticism on the one hand, and pseudobiology on the other.1945H. Read Coat of Many Colours i. 3 Lucian, one of those romantic exiles who brought some light and liberty into a proto-fascist world.1959― Conc. Hist. Mod. Painting iv. 119 Anarchists.., proto-fascists in some cases, the Dadaists, adopted Bakunin's slogan: destruction is also creation!1973Black Panther 28 Apr. 8/3 The danger in a ‘professional’ national police force is the same as that of a volunteer army. In both we find an elitist, racist, proto-fascist orientation and esprit.1977M. Walker National Front i. 15 Proto-fascist, crypto-fascist,..quasi-fascist; the sub-groups..multiply and do little to impose meaning on the confusion.1969P. A. Robinson Freudian Left 168 Portrait of Hegel as loyal son of the Enlightenment and proto-Marxian critic of the European social order.1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., Proto-Renaissance.., a revival movement in art and literature preceding the Renaissance proper, especially that which began in the reign of the Emperor Frederick II. (1194–1250).1911Encycl. Brit. XX. 468/1 A ‘Proto-Renaissance’, the characteristic of which was a fresh interest in surviving remains of classical antiquity.1942N. Pevsner Outl. Europ. Archit. iv. 61 The Tuscan Proto-Renaissance of S. Miniato..i.e., the architecture of Florence in the 11th century, and nothing else.1945Burlington Mag. Jan. 23/2 Such, however, was the popular ‘proto-Renaissance’ in our country.1948N. Pevsner Outl. Europ. Archit. (rev. ed.) v. 82 Of Romanesque or Proto-Renaissance connections there are here none left.1963Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Apr. 312/4 ‘Proto-Renaissance’ Romanesque ‘antique’ models.1947A. Einstein Mus. Romantic Era viii. 81 Many of the traits in Mozart's works can be considered ‘Romantic’ or proto-romantic.1971Country Life 12 Aug. 392/1 The drawings are large in scale..and far removed from the experimental, proto-romantic work that we associate with Brown.3. In Chemistry. a. With names of binary compounds in -ide (formerly -uret), designating that in which the element or radical combines in the first or smallest proportion with another element; e.g. protoxide, protochloride († protochloruret), protiodide, protosulphide († protosulphuret), q.v. So protoˈbromide (protobromuret), protocarbide (proto-carburet), protocyanide (proto-cyanuret), protophosphide (proto-phosphuret), etc., a compound of bromine, carbon, cyanogen, phosphorus, etc., with another element or radical, in which the bromine, etc., is present in the smallest proportion, or in a smaller proportion than in another (designated by per-). Also in the generalized term proto-compound. Hence, in derived verbs, ppl. adjs., etc., as protoxidate, protoxidize, proto-cabureted, proto-phosphureted, proto-sulphureted, now rarely used.This use of proto- was introduced in 1804 by Dr. T. Thomson, in his System of Chemistry ed. 2, for combinations of oxygen with a metal; protoxide being used to denote the first degree or ‘minimum of oxidizement’: see quot. s.v. peroxide. It was extended by later chemists to similar combinations of other elements, as in 1815 to protochloride, and so on. In later chemical nomenclature, names in proto- have been to a great extent superseded by others with more definite numerical prefixes, or in which the constitution of the substance is differently expressed (e.g. protoxide of manganese by manganese monoxide, or manganous oxide; protochloride and protoxide of iron, by ferrous chloride, ferrous oxide; protocarburet of hydrogen by light carburetted hydrogen, methyl hydride, or methane. But the proto- forms are retained in some cases, especially when they correspond with mono- compounds, and in pharmacy and popular use.b. In ternary compounds proto- was formerly used to designate salts produced from protoxides (cf. protosalt), which thus contain the smallest (or smaller) proportion of the acid radical. Thus, proto-carbonate or proto-chlorate of iron, = the earlier expressions, ‘carbonate’ or ‘chlorate of the protoxide of iron’, i.e. the salts formed by the action of carbonic and chloric acid on the protoxide of iron. The latter is now ferrous oxide, and the salts are called ferrous carbonate and ferrous chlorate respectively. So with organic salts, as protacetate, protoxalate; as protoxalate of tin, the salt produced by the action of oxalic acid upon the protoxide of tin (stannous oxide); now called stannous oxalate. So † proto-hydrochlorate (proto-muriate), † proto-haloid salt, a salt formed by the action, on a metallic protoxide, of hydrochloric (muriatic) acid or other haloid acid (see haloid). † proto-hydrate, the hydrate of a protoxide, as proto-hydrate of lime CO.H2O. Hence † proto-combination, combination of the protoxide.These terms are common in chemical writings of the first half of the nineteenth century, but now belong mostly to the history of chemistry.c. In Organic and Physiological Chemistry and Pharmacy, proto- occurs in senses having little or no connexion with a or b, but rather akin to its use in 1 or 2.Thus in proto-catechuic acid (C7H6O4) the name was given because the substance has some resemblance to catechuic acid or catechu (? C19H18O8), but has a simpler composition. proto-albumoses were the albumoses first produced in the process of digestion from the ‘acid-albumins’, and are now called primary proteoses. protalbinic acid is the first product of the action of alkalis upon albumin or protein.1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1315 Acetic acid..forms a well-defined class of salts, acetates... Some of the peroxides convert part of this acid into carbonic acid and water, by which they are reduced to a soluble state, and form *protacetates.1876Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 85 The bromine and the iron, in equivalent proportions unite to form a *protobromide of iron.1858Mayne Expos. Lex., *Protobromuret; protocarburet; protochloruret; protocyanuret; protofluoruret; protohydrioduret; protophosphuret; protoseleniuret; protosulphuret.1876Duhring Dis. Skin 84 Iron may be prescribed in the form of the *protocarbonate, citrate, pyrophosphate [etc.].1858Mayne Espos. Lex., *Protocarbonated.1826Henry Elem. Chem. I. 422 Carbureted Hydrogen Gas. This gas has been distinguished also by the name of..gas of marshes, hydro-carburet, *proto-carburet of hydrogen.1849R. V. Dixon Heat i. 136 *Protocarburetted hydrogen and bicarburetted hydrogen..are yet sensibly more compressible than air.1876Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 385 Vanillin is the methylic aldehyd of *proto⁓catechuic acid.1885I. Remsen Org. Chem. (1888) 303 Proto⁓catechuic acid, C6H3.CO2H.(OH)2, is a frequent product of the fusion of organic substances with caustic potash.1854Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 436 In almost every case..this metal [manganese] will be found in the state of *proto-combination,—either as an oxygen salt of the protoxide, or as a *protohaloid salt.Ibid. 443 With *proto⁓compounds of iron it [red prussiate of potash] yields a white, with per-compounds a blue precipitate.Ibid. 499 It..is..the *protocyanide, or *protocyanuret of mercury.1826Henry Elem. Chem. I. 577 In this compound, the lime is to the water, according..To Berzelius, as 100 to 32·1... It is, therefore, strictly a *proto-hydrate.1836J. M. Gully Magendie's Formul. (ed. 2) 17 A solution of *proto-hydrochlorate of tin.1826Henry Elem. Chem. II. 100 Corresponding with the two chlorides of copper, we have also a *protomuriate and permuriate.1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 63 When this salt is dropt into a solution of *protonitrate of mercury, a copious white precipitate falls.1858Mayne Expos. Lex., Protophosphoratus.., applied to hydrogen gas containing the first of the different proportions of phosphorus with which it combines: *protophosphorated.1854Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 457 Add carbonate of potash or soda to a *protosolution of zinc.1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1185 The *protoxalate [of iron] crystallizes in green prisms.Add:[2.] [b.] ˈprotostome Zool., an invertebrate animal whose mouth develops from the protostoma or opening to the blastopore.1959L. H. Hyman Invertebrates V. xxi. 605 The differing fate of the blastopore, becoming the anus in deuterostomes, the mouth in lophophorates and other *protostomes.1989Development CV. 244/2 Both in their appearance and timing, these cytoplasmic lobes resemble the meiotic polar lobes formed in protostomes such as the gastropod Ilyanassa obsoleta.ˈprotovirus Microbiol., a body of genetic material which cannot reproduce but from which a virus may subsequently develop; protovirus hypothesis, a theory of oncogenesis (now discarded) involving such entities.1970H. M. Temin in Perspectives in Biol. & Med. XIV. 22 This oncogene theory differs from the *protovirus theory proposed here... The protovirus theory..suggests that leukemia viruses do not preexist but arise from other elements, protoviruses, by genetic change.1973Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Path. LX. 19/2 The protovirus hypothesis states that a DNA polymerase-RNA complex (protovirus) is present in normal cells, that this complex has a special role in normal cell development, and that RNA tumor viruses evolved from this normal cellular protovirus.1985Med. Hypotheses XVIII. 154 The protovirus hypothesis..which states that the information for cancer is apparently vertically transmitted also implies that cancer is endogenous to mankind.
proto-
before vowels prot-, word-forming element meaning "first, source, parent, preceding, earliest form, original, basic," from Greek proto-, comb. form of protos "first," from PIE *pre-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
proto- /ˈprəʊtəʊ/ combining form. Before a vowel or h also prot-.
ORIGIN: Greek prōto- combining form of prōtos first: see -o-.
1.First in time, earliest, original; at an early or preceding stage of development, primitive; spec. (Linguistics) designating or pertaining to the earliest attested or hypothetically reconstructed form of a language or language family.
2.First in rank or importance.
3.Chiefly Science. First in position, anterior.b. Chemistry. Forming names of: (a)†(esp. binary) compounds in which an element combines in the smallest proportion with another element; (b) precursors or parent compounds, structures, etc.
 DERIVATIVE protobiont /-ˈbʌɪɒnt/ noun [-biont] Biology a membrane-bound fluid droplet containing complex organic molecules, hypothesized as ancestral to living cells M20.
protocaˈnonical adjective of, pertaining to, or constituting a first or primary canon (of sacred books) E17.
protoˈcercal adjective [Greek kerkos tail] Ichthyology designating or possessing a tail of primitive form, symmetrical and continuous with the dorsal and ventral fins L19.
protoˈchlorophyll noun (Biochemistry) a naturally occurring photoactive precursor of chlorophyll L19.
protoˈchordate adjective & noun (Zoology) (of, pertaining to, or designating) an animal belonging or related to the chordates but lacking a skull and vertebrae (i.e. other than a vertebrate), i.e. a cephalochordate, a urochordate, or a hemichordate: L19.
protoconch /-kɒŋk/ noun the embryonic shell in molluscs, freq. retained at the tip of the adult shell L19.
protocone noun (Zoology) a cusp on the anterior lingual corner of the tribosphenic upper molar tooth L19.
protoˈconid noun (Zoology) a cusp on the anterior buccal corner of the tribosphenic lower molar tooth L19.
protocontinent noun (Geology) = supercontinent M20.
protocorm noun (Botany) a structure resembling a tuber, produced by the seedlings of certain orchids and pteridophytes which grow in association with mycorrhiza L19.
protoˈcultural adjective pertaining to hypothetical or surmised origins of human cultural development M20.
protoˈdeacon noun a senior deacon in the Greek Orthodox Church L17.
protoderm noun (Botany) the outermost layer of the apical meristem, from which the epidermis and some of the tissue beneath it are formed M20.
proto-ˈdiasystem noun (Linguistics) a hypothetical reconstruction of the system of linguistic relationships in a protolanguage M20.
protodyˈnastic adjective (hist.) designating or pertaining to the earliest (Egyptian) dynasties E20.
protofibril noun (Biology) a protein filament that is a component structural element of a fibril or spec. of a microfibril M20.
protofilament noun (Biology) a filament of protein molecules, a group of which form a microtubule L20.
proto-form noun (Linguistics) a hypothetical form of a word or part of a word from which attested words have been derived M20.
protogaˈlactic adjective (Astronomy) of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a protogalaxy M20.
protogalaxy noun (Astronomy) a vast mass of gas from which a galaxy is thought to develop M20.
Protogeoˈmetric adjective (Archaeology) designating or pertaining to a period of ancient Greek culture (c 1100–c 900 bc) immediately preceding the Geometric period E20.
Proto-Gerˈmanic adjective & noun (of, pertaining to, or designating) the unrecorded Germanic parent language from which all Germanic languages are derived M20.
protogram noun (now rare or obsolete) an acronym E20.
protograph noun a first or original writing M19.
protohaem, -heme noun (Biochemistry) a haem complex containing ferrous iron M20.
proto-hiˈstorian noun (a) the earliest or original historian; (b) an expert in or student of proto-history: M17.
proto-hiˈstoric adjective of or pertaining to proto-history L19.
proto-hiˈstorical adjective = proto-historic E20.
proto-history noun the branch of knowledge that deals with the history of the earliest times or the beginnings of historical records E20.
Proto-ˈHittite noun the language of the Hatti, unrelated to Hittite M20.
proto-ˈhominid noun & adjective (pertaining to or designating) primitive hominids, or evolutionary ancestors of the hominids M20.
protoˈhuman noun & adjective (Anthropology) (pertaining to or designating) any of various fossil or hypothetical primates resembling and thought to be ancestral to humans E20.
Proto-Indo-Euroˈpean adjective & noun (pertaining to or designating) the unattested and partly reconstructed language from which all Indo-European languages are believed to derive M20.
protolanguage noun (Linguistics) a hypothetical parent language from which actual languages or dialects are derived (cf. Ursprache) M20.
proto-literate adjective characterized by the most primitive kind of writing M20.
protolith noun (Geology) the unmetamorphosed parent rock from which a given metamorphic rock has developed L20.
proˈtomerite noun (Zoology) the anterior division of the body in gregarine protozoans L19.
protoˈmorphic adjective having a primitive or the simplest form or structure M19.
protoneˈphridial adjective (Zoology) of or pertaining to a protonephridium L19.
protoneˈphridium noun, pl. -dia, Zoology a branched blind-ended nephridium containing flame cells, as in flatworms, or solenocytes, as in some annelids L19.
protoˈpectin noun (Biochemistry) = pectose E20.
protopeˈtroleum noun an intermediate product in the formation of petroleum from organic debris E20.
protophyll noun (Botany) in clubmosses, a leaflike structure produced on the upper surface of a protocorm L19.
protophyte noun (Botany) any of the primitive unicellular plantlike organisms constituting the subkingdom Protophyta, now usu. classed with protozoa among the Protista (cf. protist) M19.
protoplanet noun (Astronomy) a large diffuse body of matter in a solar or stellar orbit, postulated as a preliminary stage in the evolution of a planet M20.
protoˈplanetary adjective of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a protoplanet M20.
protopod adjective (Entomology) designating or pertaining to an embryonic or larval insect lacking abdominal segmentation and limbs E20.
protoˈpodite noun (Zoology) the basal joint of a crustacean limb L19.
protoˈporcelain noun a form of early pottery resembling porcelain but lacking its translucent qualities, esp. a porcellaneous ceramic ware produced in ancient China under the Han dynasty M20.
protoporˈphyria noun (Medicine) a condition characterized by the accumulation of protoporphyrin in the red blood cells M20.
protoˈporphyrin noun (Chemistry) a porphyrin of formula C34H34N4O4 (of which there are fifteen isomers) in which the porphin nucleus has four methyl, two vinyl, and two propanoic acid substituents, esp. (more fully protoporphyrin IX) the isomer which occurs widely in living organisms, mainly as haem E20.
protoˈpresbyter noun = protopope L19.
Proto-Roˈmance adjective & noun (pertaining to or designating) the partly reconstructed language developed from Vulgar Latin from which the Romance languages derive; (pertaining to) Vulgar Latin: M20.
proto-scienˈtific adjective of or pertaining to primitive science, or an early stage in scientific development M20.
protoˈscolex noun, pl. -lices /-lɪsi:z/, Medicine & Zoology a vesicle formed from a hydatid cyst and capable of developing into a tapeworm scolex L20.
protostele noun (Botany) a simple type of stele, found esp. in the roots of seed plants, in which a central core of xylem is surrounded by a cylinder of phloem E20.
protostelic /-ˈsti:lɪk/ adjective pertaining to or of the nature of a protostele E20.
protostar noun (Astronomy) a contracting mass of gas representing a star in an early stage of formation, before nucleosynthesis has begun M20.
protoˈstellar adjective (Astronomy) of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a protostar or protostars L20.
protostome noun (Zoology) a metazoan organism whose mouth develops from the primary embryonic opening or blastopore, as an annelid, a mollusc, an arthropod M20.
prototroch noun [Greek trokhos wheel] Zoology a ciliated ridge encircling the body of a trochosphere larva in front of the mouth L19.
prototyˈpographer noun (a) the earliest printer; (b) a chief printer: M17.
protovirus noun (Biology) a body of genetic material, esp. RNA, which cannot reproduce but from which a virus or infective particle may arise under certain circumstances L20.
protoˈxylem noun (Botany) the part of the primary xylem which is formed first, found in plant tissue which is still elongating L19.
proto-
combining form.
first in time, as in prototype.
first in importance; chief; primary, as in protoplasm.
Also, prot- before vowels.
[< Greek prōto- < prôtos first, superlative of prôteros < pró, preposition, before; see etym. under pro-2]
proto-
— see prot-

proto-
  • prot-

  • (US) IPA: /pɹoʊtoʊ/, [pɹoʊɾoʊ]

    • Prefix

    1. first
    2. linguistics, genetics most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of
      All Indo-European languages from Albanian to Zazaki are descended from Proto-Indo-European.
    3. chemistry Relating to protons and/or positive charge.

    Etymology

    From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combination form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).

    Synonyms

  • ur-

    • Coordinate terms

  • deutero-, deuter-
  • trito-, trit-

    • Derived terms

    English words prefixed with proto-
    words in which it has the meaning "first"
  • protoethics
  • protophysics
  • protoplasm
  • prototype
  • protozoon
    • in linguistics, proto-languages
  • Proto-Baltic
  • Proto-Celtic
  • Proto-Czech
  • Proto-Germanic
  • Proto-Greek
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian
  • Proto-Indo-European
  • Proto-Italic
  • Proto-Kiranti
  • proto-language
  • Proto-Norse
  • Proto-Oceanic
  • Proto-Pontic
  • Proto-Semitic
  • Proto-Slavic
  • Proto-Uralic

    • 前缀：proto- 原始

    protogenic 原生的

    protocontinent 原始大陆

    protohistory 史前时期

    protozoolgy 原生动物

    prototype 原型

    protohuman 早期原始人的
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    更新时间：2025/3/10 20:43:26