allele
al·lele
noun
1.
one of two alternate forms of a gene that can have the same locus on homologous chromosomes and are responsible for alternative traits
- “some alleles are dominant over others”
Origin
Borrowed from German Allel, shortened from Allelomorph, from English allelomorph. Ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀλλήλων (allḗlōn, “each other”) from ἄλλος (állos, “other”).
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.