protoplast

From Middle French prothoplaste, and its source Late Latin protoplastus, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πρωτόπλαστος (prōtóplastos, “first-formed”), from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-) + πλαστός (plastós, “formed, moulded”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊ.tə(ʊ)ˌplast/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹoʊ.təˌplæst/

protoplast (comparative more protoplast, superlative most protoplast)

1. (obsolete) Created first; archetypal. [16th–17th c.]

protoplast (plural protoplasts)

1. The first-created human; Adam. [from 16th c.]
2. (rare) A prototype or archetype; a model. [from 17th c.]
3. The first person in a given family, lineage etc.; an ancestor. [from 17th c.]
   • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 121:

     Habsburg tradition insists that the protoplast of the family was called Guntram.

4. (biology) The contents of a plant cell. [from 19th c.]

Borrowed from French protoplaste.

protoplast n (plural protoplaste)

1. protoplast