protoplasm

English

Etymology

From German Protoplasma, coined by Czech physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně, from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + πλάσμα (plásma, “something molded”). By surface analysis, proto- +‎ -plasm. Compare also protoplasma, used in Late Latin for the “first-created one” (i.e. Adam).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

protoplasm (countable and uncountable, plural protoplasms)

1. (cytology) The entire contents of a cell comprising the nucleus and the cytoplasm. It is a semi-fluid, transparent substance which is the living matter of plant and animal cells.

Derived terms

• protoplasmal
• protoplasmatic
• protoplasmic

Translations

entire contents of a cell

Chinese: Mandarin: 原形質 / 原形质 (zh) (yuánxíngzhì), 原生質 / 原生质 (zh) (yuánshēngzhì) Czech: protoplazma (cs) f Dutch: protoplasma (nl) n Finnish: alkulima (fi), protoplasma (fi) French: protoplasme (fr) m German: Protoplasma (de) n Greek: πρωτόπλασμα (el) n (protóplasma) Icelandic: frymi (is) n Indonesian: protoplasma (id) Irish: prótaplasma m, réamhdhamhna m Italian: protoplasma (it) m Japanese: 原形質 (ja) (げんけいしつ, genkeishitsu) Polish: protoplazma (pl) f, zaródź (pl) f Portuguese: protoplasma m Russian: протопла́зма (ru) f (protoplázma) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: протопла̀зма f Roman: protoplàzma (sh) f Tagalog: mulkaphay

Further reading

• protoplasm on Wikipedia.Wikipedia