heterozygote

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noun

A diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci.

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Meanings

nounheterozygote (plural heterozygotes)

plural heterozygotes

  1. biologyA diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci.
  2. biologyA bacteriophage that has two different copies of its genetic material and so produces two types of offspring.

Origin

From hetero- + zygote. Coined by English biologists William Bateson and Edith Rebecca Saunders in 1902, in a paper titled "The facts of heredity in the light of Mendel’s discovery".

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian хетерозигот
  • хетерозигот (heterozigot)a diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Finnish heterotsygootti
  • heterotsygoottia diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
French hétérozygote
  • hétérozygotea diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
German Heterozygot
  • Heterozygota diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Irish heitrisiogót
  • heitrisiogóta diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Italian eterozigote
  • eterozigotea diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Polish heterozygota
  • heterozygotaa diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Portuguese heterozigoto
  • heterozigotoa diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Russian гетерозиго́та
  • гетерозиго́та (getɛrozigóta)a diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Scottish Gaelic eadar-chuing
  • eadar-chuinga diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Spanish heterocigoto
  • heterocigotoa diploid individual that has different alleles at one or more genetic loci
Cite this entry
APA

heterozygote. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterozygote

MLA

“heterozygote.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterozygote. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heterozygote,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterozygote.

Source: heterozygote on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.