protologism
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɹəʊˈtɒləˌdʒɪzm/
Forms: form: protologisms
Etymology: Coined by Mikhail Epstein in 2003, from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word”) + -ism, by analogy with prototype and neologism.
Senses: examples: text: 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."
ref: 2007 April, William Skidelsky, “Will's words”, in Prospect:
text: 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.
ref: 2009, Heinz R. Gisel, “And Then There Was Light”, in In Foodture We Trust, →ISBN, page 123:
text: The linguistic invention-animation-based lectures (ABL) as a protologism was first used by us in 2009.
ref: 2009 December 12, Satendra Singh with Shikha Gautam, “Animation-Based Lectures in Renal Physiology: Transcendence into Metacognition”, in Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, volume 6, →ISSN:
text: Short Cuts examines a wide range of minimalist discursive genres as varied as the bank robber note, the oath of allegiance, the sniglet, and the Facebook profile, focusing on some, mentioning others only in passing (e.g., the pickup line and the protologism), and leaving others unmentioned.
ref: 2010 August, Alexander Humez et al., Short Cuts, A Guide to Oaths, Ring Tones, Ransom Notes, Famous Last Words, and Other Forms of Minimalist Communication, Oxford University Press, preface, unpaged
text: 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.
ref: 2011, Hubertus Busche, Departure for Modern Europe: A Handbook of Early Modern Philosophy (1400-1700), Meiner Verlag, →ISBN, page 1221:
text: Attendees will be encouraged to try their hand at protologism (creating new words) and become the Shake-spears of Oceanside!
ref: 2013 July 12, “3rd annual ‘Write On, Oceanside’ — July 20”, “Community Notes” https://web.archive.org/web/20161220140306/http://laprensa-sandiego.org/stories/community-notes/community-notes-114/, La Prensa San Diego
text: Among the workforce and scholars, the abbreviation for the school's designation, CSKYWLA (pronounced seeskeeWAHlah), has been minted as a protologism to that this meaning has specified – to be sanctioned by grant, nonviolence, and communal change.
ref: 2014 October 7, Janet Kemp, The Star-Spangled Banner, 170 Success Secrets, Emereo Publishing, unpaged
text: Ėpštejn's projective dictionary should be a collection of protologisms, a protologism being a new word, coined to designate a new phenomenon or to fill in blank spaces and semantic voids in the lexical-conceptual system, as he proclaimed in 2003.
ref: 2015, Peter O. Müller, Word-Formation: An International Handbook of the Languages of Europe, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN:
coordinate_terms: neologism
glosses: 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.
wikipedia: Mikhail Epstein