What does "protostar" mean?

A collection of gas and dust in space with high temperature that usually grows to the point of beginning nuclear fusion and becoming a star.

What is a synonym for "protostar"?

Common synonyms include: infant star, protosun.

Pronounced //ˈpɹəʊtə(ʊ)stɑː//.

//ˈpɹəʊtə(ʊ)stɑː// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A collection of gas and dust in space with high temperature that usually grows to the point of beginning nuclear fusion and becoming a star.

From proto- + star. Compare later protostellar.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.