prosthetic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek προσθετικός (prosthetikós, “adding; repletive; giving additional power”), from πρόσθεσις (prósthesis, “addition”), from προστίθημι (prostíthēmi, “I add”), from πρός (prós, “towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑsˈθɛtɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

prosthetic (not comparable)

1. artificial, acting as a substitute for part of the body; relating to prosthesis

   prosthetic leg/arm

   • 2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

     Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.

Derived terms

• bioprosthetic
• endoprosthetic
• exoprosthetic
• interprosthetic
• keratoprosthetic
• megaprosthetic
• neuroprosthetic
• nonprosthetic
• periprosthetic
• postprosthetic
• preprosthetic
• prosthetically
• prosthetic group
• prostheticist
• retroprosthetic
• subprosthetic
• transprosthetic

Translations

artificial

• Czech: protetický (cs) m
• Dutch: prothetisch (nl)
• Finnish: teko- (fi)
• French: prosthétique (fr), artificiel (fr) m, artificielle (fr) f
• Greek: προσθετικός (el) (prosthetikós)
• Ido: prostezala (io) (linguistics)
• Italian: prostetico (it), prostetico (it) (linguistics only)
• Polish: protetyczny (pl)
• Russian: протезный (ru) (proteznyj)
• Spanish: prostético

Noun

prosthetic (plural prosthetics)

1. An artificial replacement for part of the body; a prosthesis, prosthetic device.
2. An addition to an actor etc.'s body as part of a costume, intended to transform the person's appearance.
   • 2003, Penny Delamar, The Complete Make-up Artist:

     The specialist makers of prosthetics are part chemist, part artist and part engineer. Each tends to specialise in a particular area, such as sculpting, mould making, foaming latex, knotting hair into the pieces, colouring or artworking.

Translations

prosthesis — see prosthesis

Anagrams

• rope stitch