prion

See also: Prion and príon

English

Etymology 1

From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by Neurologist, biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːɒn/, /ˈpɹaɪən/; for more information, see prion § Etymology and pronunciation (Wikipedia).

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -iːɒn, -aɪən

Noun

prion (plural prions)

1. (molecular biology) A self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue.
   • 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 277:

     Prions retain deep mysteries, the foremost of which is what on earth they exist for.

   • 2021 July 28, Barbara Casassus, “France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes two lab workers”, in Science‎^[1]:

     Five public research institutions in France have imposed a 3-month moratorium on the study of prions—a class of misfolding, infectious proteins that cause fatal brain diseases—after a retired lab worker who handled prions in the past was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the most common prion disease in humans.

Derived terms

• prion disease
• prion protein

Translations

misfolded protein

• Azerbaijani: prion
• Bengali: প্রিয়ন (priẏon)
• Catalan: prió m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 朊病毒 (zh) (ruǎnbìngdú), 朊毒體／朊毒体 (ruǎndútǐ), 普利昂 (pǔlì'áng), 蛋白質侵染因子／蛋白质侵染因子 (dànbáizhì qīnrǎn yīnzǐ), 毒朊 (dúruǎn), 感染性蛋白質／感染性蛋白质, 感染性蛋白质 (gǎnrǎnxìng dànbáizhì), 普恩蛋白 (pǔ'ēndànbái)

• Esperanto: priono
• Finnish: prioni (fi)
• French: prion (fr) m
• German: Prion (de) m
• Greek: πρίον n (príon)
• Hebrew: פריאון (he) m (prión)
• Indonesian: prion
• Irish: prión m
• Italian: prione (it) m
• Japanese: プリオン (purion)
• Korean: 프리온 (peurion)
• Malay: prion
• Malayalam: പ്രിയോൺ (priyōṇ)
• Odia: ପ୍ରିଅନ୍ (prian)
• Persian: پریون (fa)
• Portuguese: prião m (Portugal), príon (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: prion m
• Russian: прио́н (ru) m (prión)
• Spanish: prion (es) m
• Tamil: புரதப்பீழை (puratappīḻai)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: пріо́н m (prión)

See also

• bovine spongiform encephalopathy
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• kuru
• mad cow disease
• New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
• scrapie
• chronic wasting disease
• viroid

Etymology 2

From Prion (former genus name), from Ancient Greek πρίων (príōn, “saw”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹʌɪən/ (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)
• Rhymes: -ʌɪən

Noun

prion (plural prions)

1. A petrel of the genus Pachyptila.

Synonyms

• (petrel of the genus Pachyptila): pachyptile (rare)

Translations

petrel from the genus Pachyptila

• Bulgarian: вълнолюбка f (vǎlnoljubka)
• Catalan: petrell prió m
• Finnish: prioni (fi)
• Russian: китовая пти́чка f (kitovaja ptíčka)
• Spanish: pato-petrel m

Anagrams

• Ripon, orpin, ponir, porin, proin, rip on, ripon

French

Noun

prion m (plural prions)

1. prion

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French prion.

Noun

prion m (plural prioni)

1. prion

Declension

Declension of prion

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) prion	prionul	(niște) prioni	prionii
genitive/dative	(unui) prion	prionului	(unor) prioni	prionilor
vocative	prionule		prionilor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• prión

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾjon/ [ˈpɾjõn]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: prion

Noun

prion m (plural priones)

1. prion

Further reading

• “prion”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014