Genome

//ˈd͡ʒiː.noʊm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The complete genetic information (either DNA or, in some viruses, RNA) of an organism.

    "Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered, just as having the human genome has made it possible to ask new questions about cellular and molecular systems."

  2. 2
    the ordering of genes in a haploid set of chromosomes of a particular organism; the full DNA sequence of an organism wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
chromosomegenetic code

Example

More examples

"The genome of this virus is unknown."

Etymology

From earlier genom, from German Genom, coined by German botanist Hans Winkler in 1920 as a blend of Gen (“gene”) + Chromosom (“chromosome”). By surface analysis, gen(e) + -ome, or a blend of gen(e) + (chromos)ome. Spelling altered to reflect the surface analysis.

Related phrases

Human Genome Projectgenome assemblygenome sizegenome transplantwhole-genome duplication

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