Etymology

protoporphyrin

P3R1O1T1O1P3O1R1P3H4Y4R1I1N1

Today it means: Any porphyrin that lacks a central metal ion Full definition →

English porphyrin ← German Porphyrin ← Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Ancient Greekπρό (pró)
  5. Ancient Greekπρῶτος (prôtos)
  6. Ancient Greekπρωτο- (prōto-)
  7. Englishproto-
  8. GermanPorphyrin
  9. Englishporphyrin
  10. English todayprotoporphyrin

From proto- + porphyrin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.