Word.ws English Dictionary

proteus

/ˈpɹəʊ.tjuːs/US/ˈpɹoʊ.ti.əs/

proteus noun: any of many gram-negative bacteria, of the genus Proteus, several of which are responsible for human infections.

Noun

proteus (plural protei)

  1. Any of many gram-negative bacteria, of the genus Proteus, several of which are responsible for human infections.

Proper noun capitalized: Proteus

Proteus

  1. (Greek) A sea god who could change his shape at will.
    • "I am known as the Old Man of the Sea, but back in my day, people called me Proteus.
      "No way!" Egan said. "This guy had Poseidon's job before Poseidon."2026, James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, Dr. Zeus, page 209
  2. The sixth satellite of the planet Neptune.

Forms of proteus

pluralprotei

Origin of proteus

From the genus name.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πρωτεύς (Prōteús).

Words formed from proteus

Phrases with proteus

Questions about proteus

What does proteus mean?
Proteus means any of many gram-negative bacteria, of the genus Proteus, several of which are responsible for human infections.
What part of speech is proteus?
Proteus can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce proteus?
Proteus is pronounced /ˈpɹəʊ.tjuːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of proteus?
The plural of proteus is protei.

Words near proteus in the dictionary

  1. protestor
  2. protestors
  3. protests
  4. protests too much
  5. protestware
  6. proteus
  7. Proteus effect
  8. Proteus effects
  9. Proteus syndrome
  10. Proteus-like syndrome
  11. Protevangelion

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: proteus (page history and authors); Proteus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Proteus.wav.

Cite this entry: “proteus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/proteus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.