leptotene

[lep-tuh-teen]

noun Cell Biology.

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.

Origin of leptotene

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

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British Dictionary definitions for leptotene

leptotene

noun

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

Word Origin for leptotene

C20: from lepto- + -tene, from Greek tainia band, filament

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

leptotene in Medicine

leptotene

[lĕp′tə-tēn′]

n.

The early stage of prophase in meiosis in which the replicated chromosomes contract and become visible as long filaments well separated from one another.