protein

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈprəʊ.tiːn/, US /ˈproʊ.tiːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French protéine,^[2][3][4] also German Protein,^[5][6] coined in 1838 by the Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder,^[2][3] perhaps on the suggestion of Berzelius,^[2] from Ancient Greek πρωτεῖος (prōteîos, “of the first quality, primary”),^[2][3][4] from prôtos “first”,^[2][3] with the suffix -ine.^[2][3] It is related to proto- and protagonist.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mulder's name for a nitrogenous substance thought to be the essential constituent of all animals and plants and of food: 1838 in the OED,^[7] 1844 in Barnhart, Etymonline and MWU.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Further work overturned Mulder's theory, but the words protein and proteid stayed in use for other organic compounds, and the modern general sense arose in German.^[2][3] The confusion became so great that in 1907 a committee fixed protein in its modern meaning, a class of organic compounds essential to all living things, and dropped proteid.^[2][3] Proteinaceous is from 1844.^[7] Compounds such as protein plastic are from 1936.^[7]

Timeline

• 1838 – coined by Mulder.^[2][7]
• 1844 – in English.^[3][2]
• 1907 – the modern meaning fixed.^[2][3]
• 1936 – protein plastic.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of a large class of complex organic compounds made of chains of amino acids, found in all living cells and including enzymes, hormones and antibodies.
2. Such compounds as a part of the diet, found especially in meat, fish, eggs and beans.

Word family

• proteinaceous

Related words

• proteo-
• proto-
• protagonist
• prototype

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press