leptotene

American

[lep-tuh-teen] / ˈlɛp təˌtin /

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.

leptotene British

/ ˈlɛptəʊˌtiːn /

noun

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); see lepto-, -tene

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