protofilament

P3R1O1T1O1F4I1L1A1M3E1N1T1

noun

A filament of polymerized tubulin in a cell, which becomes part of a microtubule

OriginEnglish filament ← Medieval Latin fīlāmentum ← Late Latin fīlō →
Scrabble 20
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Meanings

nounprotofilament (plural protofilaments)

plural protofilaments

  1. A filament of polymerized tubulin in a cell, which becomes part of a microtubule

    The MreB crystal contained a straight, single-stranded protofilament[…].

    2008 January 22, Mitsusada Iwasa Toshiro Oda, Akihiro Narita da, “The nature of the globular- to fibrous-actin transition”, in Nature, volume 457, number 7228, →DOI

Origin

  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. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-
  9. Proto-Italic*fī(s)lom
  10. Latinfīlum
  11. Late Latinfīlō
  12. Medieval Latinfīlāmentum
  13. Englishfilament
  14. Englishprotofilament

From proto- + filament.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

protofilament. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protofilament

MLA

“protofilament.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protofilament. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “protofilament,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protofilament.

Source: protofilament on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.