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chromosome

UK/ˈkɹəʊ.məˌsəʊm/US/ˈkɹoʊməˌsoʊm/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,246 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: chromosomes

A chromosome is one of the tiny thread packages your genes are bundled into. Twenty-three pairs, a sex chromosome, a chromosome test.

A human cell carries forty-six, in twenty-three pairs, one of each pair from each parent. An extra copy of chromosome twenty-one causes Down's syndrome. The X and Y chromosome pair is the one that differs between the sexes.

Thomas Shafee · CC BY 4.0

Definitions of chromosome

  1. 1nounchromosomeOne of the thread packages that genes are bundled into.B2+

    “Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of one chromosome.”

chromosome is a part of a cell.

Where it comes from

German Chromosom joins Greek chroma, colour, and soma, body, because the threads take up dye under a microscope.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *tewh₂-

  2. Ancient Greek

    χρῶμα — colour

  3. German

    Chromosom

  4. English, today

    chromosome

Built from

  • σῶμα · Ancient Greek — body

19th century: from German Chromosom, ultimately from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (“colour”) + σῶμα (“body”) (because they are stained under the microscope). Equivalent to chromo- + -some.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Science & Space

Practise this word

chromosome in the wild

  • A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism.

    Chromosome

  • The generic term polyploid is often used to describe cells with three or more sets of chromosomes.

    Ploidy

  • The number of chromosomes found in a single complete set of chromosomes is called the monoploid number (x).

    Ploidy

  • The study of whole sets of chromosomes is sometimes known as karyology.

    Karyotype

  • The basic number of chromosomes in the somatic cells of an individual or a species is called the somatic number and is designated 2n.

    Karyotype

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.