Protagonist

How to spell protagonist

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce protagonist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does protagonist mean?

1. nounThe leading character in a story, play, or film, around whom the main action revolves.
2. nounA prominent supporter of a cause or a leading person in a real-world event.

Protagonist in a sentence

• The novel's protagonist is a retired detective haunted by an old case.

• She was a tireless protagonist of free public libraries throughout her career.

• Readers struggled to sympathise with such a selfish protagonist.

• The report names him as the chief protagonist behind the merger.

Where does protagonist come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word comes from the Greek protagonistes, the name for the leading actor in a drama, the one who carried the main part of the play. It was built from protos, meaning 'first' or 'chief', and agonistes, meaning 'actor' or 'combatant', which itself grew from agon, a 'contest' or 'struggle' (the same root that gives us 'agony' and 'antagonist'). In ancient Greek theatre the protagonistes was literally the first competitor in the dramatic contest, since plays were staged as competitions. English borrowed the word in the early eighteenth century, at first strictly for the chief character in a story or play, and later extended it to mean any leading figure in a real event or cause. Knowing that the middle holds agon, a contest, helps fix the troublesome spot: it is protAGONist, not 'protaganist'.

How the word is built

• prot- (first, foremost)
• agon (contest, struggle)
• -ist (one who does)