Standard Lemma guide

ribosome

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.

  • UK: /ˈɹaɪbəˌsəʊm/
  • US: /ˈɹaɪbəˌsoʊm/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small organelle found in all cells; involved in the production of proteins by translating messenger RNA.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an organelle in the cytoplasm of a living cell; they attach to mRNA and move down it one codon at a time and then stop until tRNA brings the required amino acid; when it reaches a stop codon it falls apart and releases the completed protein molecule for use by the cell

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the ribosome is the site of protein synthesis

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organelle, cell organelle, cell organ

History

Etymology

From ribo- + -some.

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: ribosoma — organelle
  • Chinese Cantonese: 核糖體 /核糖体 (hat6 tong4 tai2) — organelle
  • Chinese Cantonese: 核糖核蛋白體 /核糖核蛋白体 — organelle
  • Chinese Cantonese: 核蛋白體 /核蛋白体 — organelle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 核糖體 /核糖体 (hétángtǐ) — organelle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 核糖核蛋白體 /核糖核蛋白体 (hétáng hédànbáitǐ) — organelle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 核蛋白體 /核蛋白体 (hédànbáitǐ) — organelle
  • Czech: ribozom — organelle
  • Dutch: ribosoom — organelle
  • Esperanto: ribosomo — organelle
  • Finnish: ribosomi — organelle
  • French: ribosome — organelle
  • German: Ribosom — organelle
  • Greek: ριβόσωμα (rivósoma) — organelle
  • Hindi: राइबोसोम (rāibosom) — organelle
  • Hungarian: riboszóma — organelle
  • Icelandic: netkorn — organelle
  • Indonesian: ribosom — organelle
  • Italian: ribosoma — organelle
  • Japanese: リボソーム (ribosōmu) — organelle
  • Khmer: រីបូសូម (riibousoum) — organelle
  • Lithuanian: ribosoma — organelle
  • Māori: tuipūmua — organelle
  • Polish: rybosom — organelle
  • Portuguese: ribossomo — organelle
  • Portuguese: ribossoma — organelle
  • Romanian: ribozom — organelle
  • Russian: рибосо́ма (ribosóma) — organelle
  • Spanish: ribosoma — organelle
  • Swedish: ribosom — organelle
  • Tagalog: ribolawas — organelle
  • Turkish: ribozom — organelle
  • Ukrainian: рибосо́ма (rybosóma) — organelle
  • Vietnamese: ribôxôm — organelle
  • Welsh: ribosom — organelle