protogen · noun1
From proto- (“an early, primitive stage of development”) + primagen (“a furry cyborg character with a raptor-like body and fully robotic legs”). Coined by Fur Affinity user Cedar "Malice-risu" Andrews in April 2017 as an open-source fursona species (an open species), in contrast to her copyrighted, more mechanical primagen species; in fiction, protogen are canonically the predecessor species to primagen, hence the name.
protogen · noun2
Shortening.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.