Meanings
plural haplonts
- biologyAny haplontic organism; any organism whose zygotes undergo zygotic meiosis (meiosis immediately after the fusion of cell nuclei).
It is thus an amphimictic haplont, but clonal selling gives progeny identical among themselves and with their parents.
1988, Graham Bell, Sex and Death in Protozoa: The History of Obsession, Cambridge University Press, page 122 more examples
1933, John Milton Webber, Cytological Features of Nicotiana Glucinosa Haplonts, M. C. Merrill (editorial supervisor), Journal of Agricultural Research, Volume 47, U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 864, The behavior of haplont Nicotiana glutinosa is in harmony with the foregoing facts. […] The occurrence of diploid cells in the callus of decapitated haplonts may be attributed to causes similar to those resulting in diploid cells in proximal callus.
The first transition is a vegetative cell to a gamete, followed by gamete fusion and the production of a zygote. This involves syngamy and in haplont life cycles the 1n gametes fuse to form a 2n motile or non-motile zygote. There can be one stage or two-stage meiosis with resultant haplonts to begin the cycle again.
2007, K. A. Steidinger, E. Garcés, “4: Importance of Life Cycles in the Ecology of Harmful Microalgae”, in Edna Granéli, Jefferson T. Turner, editors, Ecology of Harmful Algae, Springer, page 44
Origin
- Ancient Greekἁπλόος“single, simple”
- Englishhaplont
From haplo- + -ont, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἁπλόος (haplóos, “single, simple”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
haplont. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haplont
“haplont.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haplont. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haplont,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haplont.
Source: haplont on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.