protoplast

Etymology

From Middle French prothoplaste, and its source Late Latin protoplastus, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πρωτόπλαστος (prōtóplastos, “first-formed”), from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-) + πλαστός (plastós, “formed, moulded”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊtə(ʊ)plast/

Adjective

protoplast (comparative more protoplast, superlative most protoplast)

1. (obsolete) Created first; archetypal. [16th-17th c.]

Noun

protoplast (plural protoplasts)

1. The first-created human; Adam. [from 16th c.]
2. (rare) A prototype or archetype; a model. [from 17th c.]
3. The first person in a given family, lineage etc.; an ancestor. [from 17th c.]
   • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin 2012, p. 121:

     Habsburg tradition insists that the protoplast of the family was called Guntram.

4. (biology) The contents of a plant cell. [from 19th c.]