Meanings
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1
noun
the condition or process of having more than two complete sets of chromosomes in a cell or organism
Polyploidy is common in flowering plants and has helped produce many crop varieties.
Thesaurus
Opposites
haploidydiploidy
Word family
Derived forms
allopolyploidyautopolyploidyendopolyploidypaleopolyploidy
Etymology
From polyploid + -y, modeled on German Polyploidie. Polyploid combines poly- ("many") with ploid, a term for chromosome-set number derived from Greek -ploos ("-fold").