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Glite Dictionary
⚓ Related to stability 🧬 Equal-length arms
metacentric

metacentric

9.9
Having the centromere in the middle so both chromosome arms are about the same length
  • adjective
  • /ˌmɛtəˈsɛntrɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : metacéntrico
  • In genetic studies, a metacentric chromosome has a centromere that divides the chromosome into two equal halves.

Examples

  • The X chromosome is classified as metacentric because its two arms are of equal length.

  • The X chromosome was the second longest telocentric chromosome, while the Y chromosome was the shortest and only metacentric chromosome.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Researchers noted that the metacentric chromosome plays a crucial role in genetic stability.

Compounds

metacentric chromosome
  • Specialized
8.9

A chromosome with its middle part near the center so the two arms are almost the same length

Surface Forms

metacentric positive

Morphology

metacentric = metacenter (semi-transparent) = meta + center + ic

The chromosome term is a specialized scientific extension of the same technical base, so the form is regular but the meaning is not obvious to many learners.

Etymology

Metacentric comes from the parts meta- meaning 'near' or 'beyond' and centric meaning 'center', so it literally means 'near the center'. That's why a metacentric chromosome has its main point in the middle, giving the two arms about the same length.