recessive trait

Cultural  

1. In genetics, a trait that must be contributed by both parents in order to appear in the offspring. Recessive traits can be carried in a person's genes without appearing in that person. For example, a dark-haired person may have one gene for dark hair, which is a dominant trait, and one gene for light hair, which is recessive. It is thus possible for two dark-haired parents to have a light-haired child, provided each parent contributes a gene for light hair.

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Example Sentences

"We knew albinism was an inherited recessive trait, but we didn't know which gene was responsible," Stroupe said.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2023

It’s a recessive trait that runs in his father’s side of the family.

From Washington Post • Jan. 11, 2023

After he crossed peas with contrasting traits and found that the recessive trait resurfaced in the F2 generation, Mendel deduced that hereditary factors must be inherited as discrete units.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

In an X-linked cross, the genotypes of F1 and F2 offspring depend on whether the recessive trait was expressed by the male or the female in the P1 generation.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Since tallness was dominant, all the parental plants in this experiment were tall to start; the recessive trait had disappeared.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee