Standard Lemma guide

muton

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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A unit of mutation forming part of a recon.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the smallest unit of DNA where a mutation can occur

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nucleotide, base

History

Etymology

Contracted form of mutation + -on, coined by American molecular biologist Seymour Benzer in 1957 as "[t]he unit of mutation [...] defined as the smallest element that, when altered, can give rise to a mutant form of the organism."

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Polish: muton — unit of mutation