proto-


  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.

Origin of proto-

1
<Greek, combining form representing prôtosfirst, superlative formed from pró;see pro-2
  • Also especially before a vowel, prot-.

Words Nearby proto-

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use proto- in a sentence

  • The influence of the leisure class is not consistently for or against the rehabilitation of this proto-anthropoid human nature.

  • The oxygen of the atmosphere also unites with certain minerals, such as the proto-salts of iron, and converts them into peroxides.

    Geology | James Geikie
  • As far as he knew, there was no such thing as a proto-man myth in wide currency around the galaxy.

    Equation of Doom | Gerald Vance
  • Remember this, though: I cannot tell you what to expect when you reach the original home of proto-man.

    Equation of Doom | Gerald Vance
  • Or must proto-man, like humans everywhere, fall victim to subjective time if objective time did not matter for him?

    Equation of Doom | Gerald Vance

British Dictionary definitions for proto-

proto-

combining form
  1. indicating the first in time, order, or rank: protomartyr

  2. primitive, ancestral, or original: prototype

  1. indicating the reconstructed earliest stage of a language: Proto-Germanic

  2. indicating the first in a series of chemical compounds: protoxide

  3. indicating the parent of a chemical compound or an element: protactinium

Origin of proto-

1
from Greek prōtos first, from pro before; see pro- ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012