Etymology

preneoplastic

P3R1E1N1E1O1P3L1A1S1T1I1C3

Today it means: Before the formation of a neoplasm (tumor); meant usually with a notion of a suspected or putative chain of causation, as opposed to random chance alone. Full definition →

English neoplastic ← Latin plasticus ← Ancient Greek πλᾰστῐκός (plăstĭkós)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*nu
  10. Proto-Indo-European*néwos
  11. Proto-Hellenic*néwos
  12. Ancient Greekνέος (néos)
  13. Ancient Greekνεο- (neo-)
  14. Englishneo-
  15. Proto-Hellenic*plátʰyō
  16. Proto-Hellenic*plát͏̌t͏̌ō?
  17. Ancient Greekπλάσσω (plássō)
  18. Ancient Greekπλᾰστῐκός (plăstĭkós)
  19. Latinplasticus
  20. Englishplastic
  21. Englishneoplastic
  22. English todaypreneoplastic

From pre- + neoplastic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.