Standard Lemma guide

heterozygous

adj · 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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  • CMU ARPABET: HH EH2 T ER0 AH0 Z AY1 G AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: biology, genetics, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: simplex

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

having dissimilar alleles at corresponding chromosomal loci

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • heterozygous for eye color

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: homozygous

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sḿ̥teros Proto-Hellenic *hə́teros Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros)lbor. English hetero- English -zygous English heterozygous From hetero- + -zygous.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: хетерозиготен (heterozigoten) — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Dutch: heterzygoot — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Finnish: eriperintäinen — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Finnish: heterotsygoottinen — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • French: hétérozygote — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Irish: heitrisigeach — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Italian: eterozigote — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Polish: heterozygotyczny — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Portuguese: heterozigoto — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Scottish Gaelic: eadar-chuingeach — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Spanish: heterocigótico — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene
  • Vietnamese: dị hợp tử — Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene