red blood cell

See synonyms for red blood cell on Thesaurus.com

noun

Physiology. one of the cells of the blood, which in mammals are enucleate disks concave on both sides, contain hemoglobin, and carry oxygen to the cells and tissues and carbon dioxide back to the respiratory organs. Abbreviation: RBC

Origin of red blood cell

First recorded in 1905–10

Also called erythrocyte, red cell, red blood corpuscle.

Words Nearby red blood cell

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

How to use red blood cell in a sentence

The treatment increased the percentage of red blood cells in the mice’s blood, which is a sign of treating anemia.
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Then the parasite bursts into the bloodstream, infecting red blood cells and causing symptoms like fever, headache or chills.
A malaria vaccine with live parasites shows promise in a small trial | Erin Garcia de Jesús | June 30, 2021 | Science News
High temperatures and pressures helped forge an unusual structure within one piece of trinitite, in a grain of the material just 10 micrometers across — a bit longer than a red blood cell.
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That’s partly because the chimp malaria parasites can’t find the blend of sialic acids they seek on human red blood cells.
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These patients also had schistocytes, which are broken and damaged red blood cells that ordinarily carry oxygen throughout the body.
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A red blood cell having no hemoglobin is also called a ghost.
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The sediment contains a few hyaline and finely granular casts and an occasional red blood-cell.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for red blood cell

red blood cell

noun

another name for erythrocyte

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 red blood cell

red blood cell

Any of the oval or disc-shaped cells that circulate in the blood of vertebrate animals, contain hemoglobin, and give blood its red color. The hemoglobin in red blood cells binds to oxygen for transport and delivery to body tissues, and it transports carbon dioxide, excreted as a metabolic waste product, out of the tissues. The red blood cells of mammals have no nucleus, while those of other vertebrates do contain nuclei. Red blood cells are formed in the bone marrow. Also called erythrocyte

a closer look

While 60 percent of the US population is eligible to donate blood, only about 5 percent does. There is no substitute for human blood, which is used for numerous medical situations, including surgery for trauma, cancer treatment, organ transplants, burns, open heart surgeries, anemia, clotting disorders, and treating premature babies. The average red blood cell transfusion is 3.4 pints. Blood, which is made in the bone marrow, has four main components-red cells, platelets, plasma, and white cells. Red blood cells, or erythrocytes, transport oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. These disk-shaped cells contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein that picks up oxygen molecules as the blood exchanges gases in the lungs. The red blood cells, which can live about 120 days in the circulatory system, deliver oxygen to the far reaches of the body, where it is released for use by other cells, such as those of the brain and muscles. Red blood cells also pick up carbon dioxide and return it to the lungs to be exhaled. All animals have some form of oxygen distribution system, but only vertebrates use red blood cells. In some invertebrates, such as the earthworm, oxygen is transported using hemoglobin that is freely dissolved in the blood. Other invertebrates don't use hemoglobin at all. The horseshoe crab, for instance, uses copper instead of iron, making its blood blue instead of red.

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