Meanings
- not comparableArtificial, acting as a substitute for part of the body; relating to prosthesis.
prosthetic leg/arm
1 more example
Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.
2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1 - not comparablehuman sciencesProthetic.
plural prosthetics
- An artificial replacement for part of the body; a prosthesis, prosthetic device.
- An addition to an actor etc.'s body as part of a costume, intended to transform the person's appearance.
The specialist makers of prosthetics are part chemist, part artist and part engineer. Each tends to specialise in a particular area, such as sculpting, mould making, foaming latex, knotting hair into the pieces, colouring or artworking.
2003, Penny Delamar, The Complete Make-up Artist
Origin
- Ancient Greekπροσθετικός“adding; repletive; giving additional power”
- New Latinprostheticus
- Englishprosthetic
From New Latin prostheticus, from Ancient Greek προσθετικός (prosthetikós, “adding; repletive; giving additional power”), from πρόσθεσις (prósthesis, “addition”), from προστίθημι (prostíthēmi, “I add”), from πρός (prós, “towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”). By surface analysis, prosth- + -etic.
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan protètic
- protèticartificial
Czech protetický
- protetickýartificial
Dutch prothetisch
- prothetischartificial
Finnish teko-
- teko-artificial
French prosthétique, artificiel
- prosthétiqueartificial
- artificielartificial
- artificielleartificial
German prothetisch
- prothetischartificial
Greek προσθετικός
- προσθετικός (prosthetikós)artificial
Italian prostetico, prostetico
- prosteticoartificial
- prosteticoartificial
Polish protetyczny
- protetycznyartificial
Russian протезный
- протезный (proteznyj)artificial
Spanish protésico, postizo
- protésicoartificial
- postizoartificial
- pegadizoartificial
Cite this entry
prosthetic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosthetic
“prosthetic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosthetic. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prosthetic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosthetic.
Source: prosthetic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.