noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A macromolecule common to all cells, used in phylogeny because they change slowly over time.

Etymology

From semanto- + -ide. Coined by Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl.

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