What does "erythrocyte" mean?

A hemoglobin-containing cell, especially as found in humans but more generally present in the blood of most vertebrates, that is involved with the transport of oxygen; such cells are usually anucleate in humans and many other animals.

What is a synonym for "erythrocyte"?

Common synonyms include: rbc, red blood cell, antibody, antigen, arterial blood, blood.

How do you pronounce "erythrocyte"?

Pronounced //əˈɹɪθɹəˌsaɪt//.

Erythrocyte

//əˈɹɪθɹəˌsaɪt// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
A hemoglobin-containing cell, especially as found in humans but more generally present in the blood of most vertebrates, that is involved with the transport of oxygen; such cells are usually anucleate in humans and many other animals.
"The want of success of these names may be attributed to their awkwardness in sound or sense; "erythrocyte" seems the best of them, but is unfortunately four-syllabled."
2
a mature blood cell that contains hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the bodily tissues; a biconcave disc that has no nucleus wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

rbc red blood cell antibody antigen arterial blood blood

Example

More examples

"The want of success of these names may be attributed to their awkwardness in sound or sense; "erythrocyte" seems the best of them, but is unfortunately four-syllabled."

Etymology

From erythro- (“red”) + -cyte (“cell”), referring to the red color of hemoglobin when oxygen is bound to it.

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