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Glite Dictionary
Rh negative

Rh negative

6.8
Having blood whose red blood cells do not have the Rh factor
  • adjective
  • /ɑr ˈeɪtʃ ˈnɛɡətɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Rh negativo
  • All pregnant women are tested to see if they are Rh negative or Rh positive.

Examples

  • If a person with Rh negative blood receives Rh positive blood, it may cause a reaction.

  • My blood type is Rh negative.

  • She learned she was Rh negative during her first prenatal checkup.

  • She is Rh negative.

  • All pregnant women are tested to see if they are Rh negative or Rh positive.

  • If a person with Rh negative blood receives Rh positive blood, it may cause a reaction.

  • She learned she was Rh negative during her first prenatal checkup.

Synonyms

Rh-negative
vsRh negative
  • Specialized
1 7.4

Having no Rh factor on red blood cells

is the same meaning but written without a hyphen

Antonyms

Rh positive
  • Specialized
1 4.6

Having the Rh factor on the surface of red blood cells

Surface Forms

Rh negative positive
Rh-neg positive

Morphology

Rh + negative

The meaning is directly and transparently composed from 'Rh' (the blood antigen) plus 'negative' (indicating absence), so a learner who knows both constituents will understand it denotes the absence of the Rh factor. This follows standard medical/test-result composition found across languages, making the term immediately comprehensible to B1 learners familiar with the component words.

Etymology

Rh negative comes from old blood tests on Rhesus monkeys, where scientists named a blood protein Rh after those monkeys. If someone tested negative for that protein, they had no Rh factor, so Rh negative means 'without the Rh factor' in the blood.