Standard Lemma guide

oligonucleotide

noun · 1 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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1

noun

Meaning 1

A short sequence of nucleotides (RNA or DNA), typically with twenty or fewer base pairs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: oligo

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek ὀλῐ́γος (olĭ́gos)der. English oligo- Proto-Italic *knuks Latin nux Latin nucleuslbor. English nucleus English nucleo- Proto-Indo-European *dheh1-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idusder. English -ide English nucleotide English oligonucleotide From oligo- + nucleotide.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: oligonucleòtid — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Chinese Mandarin: 寡核苷酸 (guǎ hé gān suān) — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Czech: oligonukleotid — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Finnish: oligonukleotidi — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • French: oligonucléotide — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Greek: ολιγονουκλεοτίδιο (oligonoukleotídio) — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Icelandic: fákirni — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Italian: oligonucleotide — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Portuguese: oligonucleotídeo — a short sequence of nucleotides
  • Spanish: oligonucleótido — a short sequence of nucleotides