monad

monad

 [mo´nad]

1. a single-celled protozoon or coccus.

2. a univalent radical or element.

3. in meiosis, one member of a tetrad.

mon·ad

(mon-'ad),

1. A univalent element or radical.

2. A unicellular organism.

3. In meiosis, the single chromosome derived from a tetrad after the first and second maturation divisions.

[G. monas, the number one, unity]

monad

(mō′năd′)

n.

1. Philosophy An indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent element of physical reality in the metaphysics of Leibniz.

2. Biology A single-celled microorganism, especially a flagellate protozoan formerly classified in the taxonomic group Monadina.

---

mo·nad′ic (mə-năd′ĭk), mo·nad′i·cal adj.

mo·nad′i·cal·ly adv.

mo′nad·ism n.

mon·ad

(mō'nad)

1. A univalent element or radical.

2. A unicellular organism.

3. In meiosis, the single chromosome derived from a tetrad after the first and second maturation divisions.

[G. monas, the number one, unity]

monad

1. any single-celled organism.
2. a single cell resulting from meiosis (instead of a tetrad).