Meanings
plural nucleotides
- biochemistryThe monomer constituting DNA or RNA biopolymer molecules. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine; a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA); and a phosphate group.
Magid draws […] a diagram depicting a restriction enzyme cutting neatly through a sequence of nucleotides.
2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 4641 more example
With a genome of only 400 million or so nucleotide bases, the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes rubripes, has the smallest known genome of any vertebrate animal. […] But the region of DNA between the landmarks can be a million or more nucleotides long.
1993 December 28, James Younger, “Fishy Short Cut To Mapping Human Genome”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Italic*knuks
- Latinnux
- Latinnucleu
- Englishnucleus
- Englishnucleo-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Englishnucleotide
From nucleo- (“relating to the nucleus”) + -ide (“chemical suffix”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan nucleòtid
- nucleòtidmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Chinese Cantonese 核苷酸
- 核苷酸 (hat⁶ gam¹ syun¹)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Chinese Mandarin 核苷酸
- 核苷酸 (hégānsuān)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Czech nukleotid
- nukleotidmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Esperanto nukleotido
- nukleotidomonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Finnish nukleotidi
- nukleotidimonomer constituting DNA or RNA
French nucléotide
- nucléotidemonomer constituting DNA or RNA
German Nukleotid
- Nukleotidmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Greek νουκλεοτίδιο
- νουκλεοτίδιο (noukleotídio)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Hungarian nukleotid
- nukleotidmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Icelandic kirni, núkleótíð
- kirnimonomer constituting DNA or RNA
- núkleótíðmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Indonesian nukleotida
- nukleotidamonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Italian nucleotide
- nucleotidemonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Japanese ヌクレオチド
- ヌクレオチド (nukureochido)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Korean 뉴클레오티드
- 뉴클레오티드 (nyukeulle'otideu)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Māori pūiokarihi
- pūiokarihimonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Polish nukleotyd
- nukleotydmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Portuguese nucleotídeo
- nucleotídeomonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Romanian nucleotidă
- nucleotidămonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Russian нуклеоти́д
- нуклеоти́д (nukleotíd)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Spanish nucleótido
- nucleótidomonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Swedish nukleotid
- nukleotidmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Turkish nükleotit
- nükleotitmonomer constituting DNA or RNA
Ukrainian нуклеоти́д
- нуклеоти́д (nukleotýd)monomer constituting DNA or RNA
Cite this entry
nucleotide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nucleotide
“nucleotide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nucleotide. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nucleotide,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nucleotide.
Source: nucleotide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.