Hapten

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any small molecule that can elicit an immune response only when attached to a large carrier such as a protein.

Synonyms

haptene haptene

Etymology

Early 20th century: from German Hapten, from Ancient Greek ἅπτειν (háptein, “to fasten”).

Related phrases

immune response

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