protoword

== English == === Etymology === From proto- +‎ word. === Noun === protoword (plural protowords) (linguistics) An early wordlike utterance produced by an infant before it has acquired a true language. (linguistics) A wordlike utterance produced by early people who had yet to develop full language capability; a word from a proto-language. ==== Related terms ==== proto-language ==== See also ==== ur-word