Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “protein” come from?

Protein comes from French protéine, from Ancient Greek πρωτεῖος, derived from πρῶτος meaning "first," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "forward" and "to bear or produce."

protein (English): Any of numerous large, complex naturally-produced...

Definitions

  1. Any of numerous large, complex naturally-produced...

Ancestry of “protein”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchprotéineprotein
2French-inefeminine singular of -in; female equivalent of...
3French-épast participle root verb suffix of regular -er...
4Middle French-é—
5Old French-éused to form past participles of regular -er...
6Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
7Proto-Italic-ā—
8Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

Words derived from “protein”

  • protease
  • glycoprotein
  • lipoprotein
  • proteomics
  • proteinuria
  • apolipoprotein
  • metalloproteinase
  • proteinase
  • fetoprotein
  • proteinaceous
  • ribonucleoprotein
  • phosphoprotein
  • multiprotein
  • nucleoprotein
  • oncoprotein
  • polyprotein
  • nonprotein
  • metalloprotease
  • apoprotein
  • paraprotein
  • flavoprotein
  • hypoproteinemia
  • selenoprotein
  • hyperlipoproteinemia
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂ →