Subunit

//sʌbˈjuːnɪt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any subdivision of a larger unit.

    "The bogies are built up of welded sub-units which are stress-relieved before assembly by riveting."

  2. 2
    a monetary unit that is valued at a fraction (usually one hundredth) of the basic monetary unit wordnet
  3. 3
    A protein subunit.

Synonyms

All synonyms
fractional monetary unitfractional monetary unit

Example

More examples

"Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta say the secreted peptide — a subunit of a protein chain — kills dozens of flu strains that plague humans. It is effective against H1 viruses, including ones that could cause pandemics."

Etymology

From sub- + unit.

Related phrases

protein subunit

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