plasmid
plas·mid
noun
1.
a small cellular inclusion consisting of a ring of DNA that is not in a chromosome but is capable of autonomous replication
Origin
From plasma + -id, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952.
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.