Mitochondrion
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A spherical or ovoid organelle found in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells and containing genetic material separate from that of the host; it is responsible for the conversion of food to usable energy in the form of ATP.
"The consideration of the mitochondrion in the spermatocytes I shall pass over, as it is not within the bounds of this paper; yet I hope to study the earlier generations of my material, and shall then compare the results."
- 2 an organelle containing enzymes responsible for producing energy wordnet
Example
More examples"The consideration of the mitochondrion in the spermatocytes I shall pass over, as it is not within the bounds of this paper; yet I hope to study the earlier generations of my material, and shall then compare the results."
Etymology
From German Mitochondrium, coined by Carl Benda in 1898, from Ancient Greek μίτος (mítos, “thread”) + χονδρίον (khondríon), diminutive of χόνδρος (khóndros, “grain, morsel”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.