Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various microorganisms of the domains Archaea and Bacteria, characterized by the absence of a distinct membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-bound organelles and by the simultaneous occurrence of DNA transcription and protein synthesis at the same site, in contrast to eukaryotes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An organism whose cell (or cells) are characterized by the absence of a nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles.
  • noun In the two-empire system of biological taxonomy, an organism of the kingdom Prokaryotae (now superseded).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a unicellular organism having cells lacking membrane-bound nuclei; bacteria are the prime example but also included are blue-green algae and actinomycetes and mycoplasma

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French procaryote : Greek pro-, before; see pro– + Greek karuōtos, having nuts (from karuon, nut; see karyo–).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From pro- + Ancient Greek κάρυον (karuon, "nut, kernel") + -ote.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word prokaryote.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • See: eukaryote, I prefer it.

    September 30, 2008

  • You have a conflict of interests, though.

    September 30, 2008