The primordial or original protoplasm from which other cells or tissues are believed to develop.
From Greek ἄρχο- (árkhō-, 'beginning' or 'origin') combined with -plasm (from Greek πλάσμα, plásma, 'something formed or molded'). This term emerged in 19th-century biology.
Scientists once imagined there was some kind of special primordial 'starter dough' for cells—we now know all cells come from existing cells, but the word survives as a fossil in biological vocabulary.
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