Phrase guide

deoxyribonucleic acid

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /di.ɒk.sɪˌɹaɪ.bəʊ.njuːˈkleɪ.ɪk ˈæ.sɪd/
  • General-American: /di.ɔk.siˌɹaɪ.boʊ.nuːˈkleɪ.ɪk ˈæ.sɪd/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nucleic acid found in all living things (and some non-living things such as certain viruses) which consists of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix; encoded in its structure are genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, genetics, medicine, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • Meronym: nucleotide

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deoxyribose nucleic acid, desoxyribose nucleic acid, double helix, DNA, thymonucleic acid

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • DNA is the king of molecules

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: desoxyribonucleic acid, DNA

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: polymer

Narrower terms: operon, complementary DNA, cDNA, episome, exon, coding DNA, intron, noncoding DNA, junk DNA, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid, recombinant DNA, sticky end, transposon, jumping gene

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: حِمْض نَوَوِيّ رِيبِيّ مَنْقُوص الأُكْسِجِين (ḥimḍ nawawiyy rībiyy manqūṣ al-ʔuksijīn) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Armenian: դեզօքսիռիբոնուկլեինաթթու (dezōkʻsiṙibonukleinatʻtʻu) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Asturian: ácidu desoxirribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Azerbaijani: dezoksiribonuklein turşusu — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Basque: azido desoxirribonukleiko — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Belarusian: дэзоксірыбануклеі́навая кіслата́ (dezoksirybanukljeínavaja kislatá) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Bulgarian: дезоксирибонуклеи́нова киселина́ (dezoksiribonukleínova kiseliná) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Catalan: àcid desoxiribonucleic — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Chinese Cantonese: 脫氧核糖核酸 /脱氧核糖核酸 (tyut3 joeng5 hat6 tong4 hat6 syun1) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Chinese Cantonese: 去氧核糖核酸 (heoi3 joeng5 hat6 tong4 hat6 syun1) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Hakka Chinese: 脫氧核糖核酸 /脱氧核糖核酸 (thot-yông fu̍t-thòng fu̍t-sôn) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 脫氧核糖核酸 /脱氧核糖核酸 (tuōyǎng hétáng hésuān) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 去氧核糖核酸 (qùyǎng hétáng hésuān) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Czech: deoxyribonukleová kyselina — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Dutch: desoxyribonucleïnezuur — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Esperanto: deoksiribonuklea acido — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Extremaduran: aceu desoxirribonucleicu — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Finnish: deoksiribonukleiinihappo — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • French: acide désoxyribonucléique — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Galician: ácido desoxirribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Georgian: დეზოქსირიბონუკლეინის მჟავა (dezoksiribonuḳleinis mžava) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • German: Desoxyribonukleinsäure — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Greek: δεσοξυριβοζονουκλεϊνικό οξύ (desoxyrivozonoukleïnikó oxý) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Greek: δεοξυριβονουκλεϊκό οξύ (deoxyrivonoukleïkó oxý) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Hebrew: חומצה דאוקסיריבונוקלאית (khumtsá deoksiribonuklé'it) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Hungarian: dezoxiribonukleinsav — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Icelandic: deoxýríbósakjarnsýra — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Indonesian: asam deoksiribonukleat — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Interlingua: acido desoxyribonucleic — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Irish: aigéad dí-ocsairibeanúicléasach — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Italian: acido desossiribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Italian: acido deossiribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Japanese: デオキシリボ核酸 (deokishiribo kakusan) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Javanese: asem dhéyoksiribonukléyat — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Kazakh: дезоксирибонуклеин қышқылы (dezoksiribonuklein qyşqyly) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Korean: 디옥시리보핵산 (dioksiribohaeksan) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Northern Kurdish: asîda deoksîrîbonukleyî — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Latvian: dezoksiribonukleīnskābe — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Lithuanian: deoksiribonukleorugštis — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Malay: asid deoksiribonukleik — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Mongolian: дезоксирибонуклейны хүчил (dezoksiribonuklejny xüčil) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Mongolian: хүчилтөрөгч үгэйдүүлсэн бөөм чихрийн бөөм хүчил (xüčiltörögč ügejdüülsen bööm čixriin bööm xüčil) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Mongolian: ᠬᠦᠴᠢᠯᠲᠥ᠋ᠷᠥᠭᠴᠢ ᠦᠭᠡᠶᠢᠳᠡᠭᠦᠯᠦᠭᠰᠡᠨ ᠪᠥᠭᠡᠮ ᠰᠢᠬᠢᠷ ᠤᠨ ᠪᠥᠭᠡᠮ ᠬᠦᠴᠢᠯ (küčiltörögči ügeyidegülügsen bögem siqir-un bögem küčil) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Polish: kwas deoksyrybonukleinowy — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Polish: kwas dezoksyrybonukleinowy — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Portuguese: ácido desoxirribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Portuguese: ácido desoxirribonucléico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Romanian: acid dezoxiribonucleic — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Russian: дезоксирибонуклеи́новая кислота́ (dɛzoksiribonukleínovaja kislotá) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Serbo-Croatian: дезоксирибонуклеинска киселина — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Serbo-Croatian: dezoksiribonukleinska kiselina — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Slovak: deoxyribonukleová kyselina — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Slovene: deoksiribonukleinska kislina — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Spanish: ácido desoxirribonucleico — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Swedish: deoxiribonukleinsyra — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Turkish: deoksiribonükleik asit — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Ukrainian: дезоксирибонуклеї́нова кислота́ (dezoksyrybonuklejínova kyslotá) — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Vietnamese: axit đêôxiribônuclêic — deoxyribonucleic acid