noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A segment of DNA that can exist and replicate either autonomously in the cytoplasm or as part of a chromosome, mainly found in bacteria.
2. 2
   DNA that is not incorporated into the genome but is replicated together with the genome (especially in bacterial cells) wordnet
3. 3
   Synonym of epitheca.

Synonyms

All synonyms

epitheca

Etymology

From epi- + -some (“nucleic unit”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.