prion

See also: Prion and príon

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

  (file)

• 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

• antiprion
• miniprion
• prionaemia
• prion disease
• prionemia
• prionic
• prionlike
• prionochezia
• prionogenesis
• prionogenic
• prionopathy
• prionose
• prionosis
• prion protein
• prionsialia

Translations

misfolded protein

• Armenian: պրիոն (prion)
• Azerbaijani: prion
• Belarusian: прыён m (pryjón)
• 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), 普里昂 (pǔlǐ'áng)

• 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 (ja) (purion)
• Korean: 프리온 (peurion)
• Malay: prion
• Malayalam: പ്രിയോൺ (priyōṇ)
• Odia: ପ୍ରିଅନ୍ (prian)
• Persian: پریون (fa)
• Polish: prion (pl) m
• 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): /ˈpɹaɪən/ (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)
• Rhymes: -aɪən

Noun

Fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur)

prion (plural prions)

1. A petrel of the genera Pachyptila and Halobaena.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• Antarctic prion
• broad-biled prion
• fairy prion
• fulmar prion
• Salvin's prion
• slender-billed prion

Translations

type of petrel

• Bulgarian: вълнолюбка f (vălnoljubka)
• 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

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

prion m (plural prions)

1. prion (clarification of this definition is needed (protein or bird?))

Polish

priony

Etymology

Borrowed from English prion.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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)

Declension

Declension of prion

	singular	plural
nominative	prion	priony
genitive	prionu	prionów
dative	prionowi	prionom
accusative	prion	priony
instrumental	prionem	prionami
locative	prionie	prionach
vocative	prionie	priony

Further reading

• “prion”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)
• priony in PWN's encyclopedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French prion.

Noun

prion m (plural prioni)

1. prion

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	prion	prionul	prioni	prionii
genitive-dative	prion	prionului	prioni	prionilor
vocative	prionule		prionilor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• prión (pre-2010)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

prion m (plural priones)

1. prion

Further reading

• “prion”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025