haploid

[ hap-loid ]

adjectiveAlso hap·loi·dic.
  1. single; simple.

  2. Biology. pertaining to a single set of chromosomes.

noun
  1. Biology. an organism or cell having only one complete set of chromosomes, ordinarily half the normal diploid number.

Origin of haploid

1
First recorded in 1905–10; hapl- + -oid

Words Nearby haploid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use haploid in a sentence

  • Each of these divides again by mitosis (the chromosomes splitting lengthwise), the half or haploid number remaining.

    Taboo and Genetics | Melvin Moses Knight, Iva Lowther Peters, and Phyllis Mary Blanchard
  • The next stage is their separation to the haploid daughter-nuclei, which have resulted from the reduction process.

    Darwin and Modern Science | A.C. Seward and Others
  • haploid (n) chromosome numbers were determined from cells in diakinesis, metaphase I, and metaphase II of meiosis.

  • Technically the tissue-cells are said to contain the diploid number of chromosomes, the gametes the reduced or haploid number.

    Being Well-Born | Michael F. Guyer

British Dictionary definitions for haploid

haploid

/ (ˈhæplɔɪd) biology /


adjectivealso: haploidic
  1. (esp of gametes) having a single set of unpaired chromosomes

noun
  1. a haploid cell or organism

Origin of haploid

1
C20: from Greek haploeidēs single, from haplous single

Derived forms of haploid

  • haploidy, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for haploid

haploid

[ hăploid′ ]


  1. Having a single set of each chromosome in a cell or cell nucleus. In most animals, only the gametes (reproductive cells) are haploid. Compare aneuploid diploid. See Note at mitosis.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.