proto-

An early, primitive stage of development.

protophysics, protometal, protoword

I had heard of Caturday when I wrote the piece, but I’d understood that it was a proto-lolcats practice that was different from the actual lolcats meme.

Original, older.

protograph, protolacteal, prototype, protoplasm

First in order; which stage is first.

protogynous, protandrous

Primary.

protoderm, protocneme

Most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of.

All Indo-European languages from Albanian to Zazaki are descended from Proto-Indo-European.

Alternative letter-case form of proto- (“used for proper names of protolanguages and their associated people”).