ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Protonym

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Protonym is a noun meaning (zoology, taxonomy) The first legitimate name of a taxon, on which the currently accepted name is based.

Meaning

(zoology, taxonomy) The first legitimate name of a taxon, on which the currently accepted name is based.

More Meanings

  1. (prescriptive, uncommon) The first/original entity after which another entity is named without the entities being related. If the entities are related, then the original entity is the eponym of the subsequent entities.

Example Sentences

The protonym of Macroscyphus appears to be Nees von Esenbeck's (1817) [genus] Peziza .
Protonyms form the name for later revised opinions on a taxon concept as implicitly or explicitly circumscribed in a subsequent publication.

Word Forms

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include orthotype, basionym, typonym, orthotaxon, basonym, protologue.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.