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leptotene

American  
[lep-tuh-teen] / ˈlɛp təˌtin /

noun

Cell Biology.

  1. a stage of cell division during the prophase of meiosis, in which the chromosomes are not distinct but appear as a mass of entangled threads.

leptotene British  
/ ˈlɛptəʊˌtiːn /

noun

  1. the first stage of the prophase of meiosis during which the nuclear material becomes resolved into slender single-stranded chromosomes

"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

Etymology

Origin of leptotene

< French leptotène (1900); lepto-, -tene

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.