proto-

• prot- (prevocalically)
• Proto- (proper names of protolanguages and their associated people)

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊ.təʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊ.toʊ/, [pɹoʊ.ɾoʊ]

proto-

1. An early, primitive stage of development.

   protophysics, protometal, protoword

   • 2007 July 16, Lev Grossman, “Lolcats Addendum: Where I Got the Story Wrong”, in TIME‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 March 2016:

     I had heard of Caturday when I wrote the piece, but I’d understood that it was a proto-lolcats practice that was different from the actual lolcats meme.

   • 2022 November 6, Emma Garland, “Aaron Carter was the millennium’s bubblegum bad boy – and the victim of a rapacious music industry”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 April 2023:

     In many ways, both good and bad, he was a proto-Justin Bieber—a teenage dream to be bought and sold, with what would turn out to be very little regard for his own humanity.

2. Original, older.

   protograph, protolacteal, prototype, protoplasm

3. (ordinal number) First in order; which stage is first.

   protogynous, protandrous

4. Primary.

   protoderm, protocneme

5. (linguistics, genetics) Most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of.

   All Indo-European languages from Albanian to Zazaki are descended from Proto-Indo-European.

6. (inorganic chemistry) A minimal proportion of a particular substance when in a combination. See protosalt.

   protoxide, protosulfide, protiodide

7. (chemistry) Relating to protons and/or positive charge.

   protophilic, protolysis

8. (chemistry, obsolete) A proto-metal.

   proto-calcium; proto-magnesium

9. (anatomy) Anterior.

   prototroch, protoconid, protoconule

• (primitive): atelo-
• (original): ur-
• (first stage): eka-
• (primary): arch-, archi-, archo-
• (common ancestor): cen-
• (minimal): meio-
• (anterior): antero-

• deutero-, deuter-
• trito-, trit-
• tetarto-, tetart-
• eteo- (linguistics)

• protocarbonate
• protosymbol
• protosymbolic
• protosymbolism

• Troop, poort, porto-, porto, Topor, tropo, tropo-, troop, proot, Porto

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), from πρῶτος (prôtos).

proto-

1. proto- (initial, first, original)

   Synonym: ur-

• Also prot- before a vowel

From Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos).

• IPA^(key): /ˈproː.toː/

proto-

1. proto-

From Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos).

proto-

1. proto-

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

• IPA^(key): /pro.to/
• Hyphenation: pro‧to-

proto-

1. proto-

• Also prot- before a vowel.

• -tropo, porto, portò, potrò, tropo

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

proto-

1. proto- (initial, first, original)

• Also prot- before a vowel

Derived from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-).

• IPA^(key): /prɔ.tɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔtɔ
• Syllabification: pro‧to-

proto-

1. (chemistry) proto-

   ‎proto- + ‎-liza → ‎protoliza

• pra-

• proto- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos) "first", superlative of πρό (pró) "before".

proto-

1. proto-

• “proto-”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “proto-”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos) "first", superlative of πρό (pró) "before".

proto-

1. proto-

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

proto-

1. proto-

• “proto-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025