The earliest, often nonverbal, moment of preferential recognition shown by an infant or very young child toward a primary caregiver, manifesting as a deliberate, unprompted touch, a sustained, focused gaze, spontaneous, determined stretching of arms, maybe even a burst of baby piss in the chest during an initial diaper change.
My 16-year-old son finally sent me a texted protoloveism. God and Sam Altman bless Neil Papworth, Matti Makkonen, and Friedhelm Hillebrand!
by TR Arterburn December 9, 2025
Get the protoloveism mug.protologism n Greek protos, first, original + Greek logos, word; cf. prototype, neologism - a newly created word which has not yet gained any wide acceptance. It is a prototype or a hypothetical projection of a new lexical unit before it may become current in writing or speech. The word "protologism" proposed here and now is itself an example of protologism.
In contrast to protologisms, neologisms are words that have already been in public usage by authors other than their inventors. As soon as a protologism finds its way into newspapers and websites, journals and books, it becomes a neologism.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
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