prion

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

• (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

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.

• prion disease
• prion protein

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

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

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

prion (plural prions)

1. A petrel of the genera Pachyptila and Halobaena.

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

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

prion m (plural prions)

1. prion

Borrowed from English prion.

• IPA^(key): /ˈprjɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔn
• Syllabification: prion

prion m inan (related adjective prionowy)

1. (molecular biology, pathology) prion (self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue)

• prion in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• priony in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French prion.

prion m (plural prioni)

1. prion

• prión (pre-2010)

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

prion m (plural priones)

1. prion

• “prion”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024