protéine (French)

Where does "protéine" come from?

The French noun 'protéine' originates from the Ancient Greek 'prōteîos', meaning 'of the first quality', formed by combining 'prôtos' meaning 'first' with the suffix '-eîos'[1][2]. The word was later coined in 1838 by the Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder with the addition of the chemical suffix '-ine'[1].

Full etymology tree

• protéine (French), 'protein'
  • suffix πρωτεῖος (prōteîos) (Ancient Greek), 'of the first quality'
    • derived πρῶτος (prôtos) (Ancient Greek), 'first'
    • suffix -εῖος (-eîos) (Ancient Greek), 'Forms adjectives, usually with a meaning of "of" or "from".'
  • suffix -ine (French), '-ine; forms chemical substances'

Ancestors

• -ine (French)

Descendants and derived words

• protein (English)
• Protein (German)
• proteïna (Catalan)
• protein (Czech)
• protein (Danish)
• proteïne (Dutch)
• proteino (Esperanto)
• glycoprotéine (French)
• lipoprotéine (French)
• métalloprotéine (French)
• protéinase (French)
• protéiner (French)

Sources

1. protéine (French) - Wiktionary
2. πρωτεῖος (prōteîos) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris