Etymologically
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protein

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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
  • 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