Protologism

The word protologism was coined in 2005 by Mikhail Epstein, a Russian professor now based at Durham University in the UK. The term is based on a combination of the Greek protos, meaning 'first' (as in prototype) and logos, meaning 'word' (compare neologism = Greek neo, 'new' + logos).Though protologism may rightly be considered a niche word, only of interest to linguists and word enthusiasts, one curious thing about it is that, at the time of writing, it's an example of itself. In other words, the term protologism is a protologism. This phenomenon, where a word itself possesses the property it refers to, is technically described as being autological. Familiar examples of autological words include noun(which is itself a noun) and polysyllabic (which is polysyllabic). Unlike these examples, however, protologism may not remain autological for long, the very existence of this article contributing to the process of it becoming more widely recognized and therefore no longer a protologism!