Etymology

prion

P3R1I1O1N1

Today it means: A self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue. Full definition →

Ancient Greek πρίων
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prion · noun1

From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982.

prion · noun2

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπρίων“saw”
  2. English todayprion

From Prion (former genus name), from Ancient Greek πρίων (príōn, “saw”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.