Phrase guide

cytotoxic T cell

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A subtype of T cell, capable of inducing death in infected somatic or tumor cells.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: immunology, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

T cell with CD8 receptor that recognizes antigens on the surface of a virus-infected cell and binds to the infected cell and kill it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: killer T cell, killer cell, CD8 T cell, CD8 cell

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: T cell, T lymphocyte

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: tappaja-T-solu — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • French: lymphocyte T cytotoxique — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • Japanese: 細胞傷害性T細胞 (saibō shōgai-sei T saibō) — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • Northern Kurdish: Xaneya T jehravî — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • Swedish: T-mördarcell — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • Swedish: mördar-T-cell — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells
  • Swedish: cytotoxisk T-cell — T cell capable of inducing death to alien cells