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If a person or a thing is protean, it keeps changing, or it can take many forms and do many kinds of work well. A protean actor can play a king one month and a clown the next. A protean mind will not stay in one box. This is not a word you use when you buy fruit; it lives in books, reviews, and careful speech, and it often carries a little admiration. It can also hint that you cannot pin someone down, because they will not stay the same. Though actually, people sometimes use it just to mean good at many things, with no picture of changing shape at all. Both readings are alive.
千變萬化的、變化多端的（書面語，日常不太會說）
組成From Proteus + -an. Proteus was the Greek warden of sea-beasts, famous for changing shape; -an makes the adjective “like Proteus.”
同家族的字
- Proteusthe Greek warden of sea-beasts whose shape-changing this adjective names
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Proteanadj/ˈproʊtiən/
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human-sciencesmysticismmythologyOf or relating to the god Proteus in Greek mythology.
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astronomynatural-sciencesOf or relating to the irregular Neptunian moon named for Proteus.
proteanadj/ˈpɹəʊ.tɪ.ən/
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Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms.
- An amoeba is a protean animalcule.
- Virus infection of the blood and bone marrow is probably responsible for all forms of the disease. The viral theory of origin accounts for the protean manifestations of the condition.
proteannoun/ˈpɹəʊ.tɪ.ən/
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biochemistrybiologychemistryA protein that has been slightly modified by water, dilute acid, or enzymes, but not modified to the extent of a metaprotein.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。