Word.ws English Dictionary

protologism

/pɹəʊˈtɒləˌdʒɪzm/

protologism noun: a newly coined word or phrase defined in the hope that it will become common; a recently created term possibly in narrow use but not yet acknowledged.

Noun

protologism (plural protologisms)

  1. (neologism) A newly coined word or phrase defined in the hope that it will become common; a recently created term possibly in narrow use but not yet acknowledged.
    • This word is so new-fangled that it hasn't yet been accepted as part of the language—which makes it not a "neologism" but a "protologism."2007 April, William Skidelsky, “Will's words”, in Prospect
    • The biophotonics hypothesis finds support from a completely different and unexpected angle: the protologism “epi-genetics” - or the “Biology of Belief” was coined by Dr. Bruce Lipton, who has also been a pioneer in applying the principles of quantum physics to the field of cellular biology.2009, Heinz R. Gisel, “And Then There Was Light”, in In Foodture We Trust, →ISBN, page 123

protologism meaning in Tamil

protologism in Tamil

சொல் பயன்பாட்டு நம்பிக்கை

Examples of protologism in a sentence

  • The linguistic invention-animation-based lectures (ABL) as a protologism was first used by us in 2009.2009 December 12, Satendra Singh with Shikha Gautam, “Animation-Based Lectures in Renal Physiology: Transcendence into Metacognition”, in...
  • So, in many contexts, he will just go back to the use of words predating his own neologization and pitilessly abandon a ‘protologism’ with which he’s not comfortable.2011, Hubertus Busche, Departure for Modern Europe: A Handbook of Early Modern Philosophy (1400-1700), Meiner Verlag, →ISBN, page 1221:
  • Attendees will be encouraged to try their hand at protologism (creating new words) and become the Shake-spears ^([sic]) of Oceanside!2013 July 12, “3rd annual ‘Write On, Oceanside’ — July 20”, in La Prensa San Diego, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2016, Community...

Forms of protologism

pluralprotologisms

Origin of protologism

Coined by Mikhail Epstein in 2003, from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word”) + -ism, by analogy with prototype and neologism.

Questions about protologism

What does protologism mean?
Protologism means a newly coined word or phrase defined in the hope that it will become common; a recently created term possibly in narrow use but not yet acknowledged.
What is protologism in Tamil?
Protologism in Tamil is சொல் பயன்பாட்டு நம்பிக்கை. See Protologism meaning in Tamil.
How do you use protologism in a sentence?
The linguistic invention-animation-based lectures (ABL) as a protologism was first used by us in 2009.
What part of speech is protologism?
Protologism is a noun.
How do you pronounce protologism?
Protologism is pronounced /pɹəʊˈtɒləˌdʒɪzm/ (UK).
What is the plural of protologism?
The plural of protologism is protologisms.

Words near protologism in the dictionary

  1. protoliturgical
  2. protolog
  3. protological
  4. protologically
  5. protologies
  6. protologism
  7. protologisms
  8. protologist
  9. protologistic
  10. protologists
  11. protologs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: protologism (page history and authors); protologism (Tamil Wiktionary) (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-protologism.wav.

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