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protein

UK/ˈpɹəʊ.ti.ɪn/US/ˈpɹoʊ.tin/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,936 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: proteins

Protein is the building material in meat, eggs, and beans that muscles are made of. High in protein, protein shake, plant protein.

It is chains of amino acids folded into shapes, and the shape is what does the work — a protein that folds wrongly does nothing or worse. Nine amino acids are essential, meaning the body cannot make them. The name was coined in 1838 from a Greek word meaning primary.

→AzaToth · Public domain

Definitions of protein

  1. 1nounproteinThe building material in food that muscles are made of.B2

    “Eggs, fish and beans are good sources of protein.”

protein is a nutrient.

Where it comes from

Coined in 1838 from Greek proteios, primary, from protos, first. Prototype and protocol come from the same first.

  1. Ancient Greek

    πρωτεῖος — primary

  2. German

    Protein

  3. French

    protéine

  4. English, today

    protein

Built from

  • πρῶτος · Ancient Greek — first

From proto- + ein. Suggested by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in a letter to Gerardus Johannes Mulder, from French protéine and German Protein, both coined based on Ancient Greek πρωτεῖος (“primary”), from πρῶτος (“first”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health

Practise this word

protein in the wild

  • G protein-coupled receptors are involved in many diseases.

    G protein-coupled receptor

  • The GPCR can then activate an associated G protein by exchanging the GDP bound to the G protein for a GTP.

    G protein-coupled receptor

  • A prion ( ) is a misfolded protein that induces folding problems in normal variants of the same protein, leading to cellular death.

    Prion

  • Prions are primarily twisted isoforms of the major prion protein (PrP), a naturally occurring protein with an uncertain function.

    Prion

  • The sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code.

    Protein

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.