gene
nounUK /dʒiːn/
US /dʒiːn/
A tiny instruction inside your body that decides things like your eye color.
She got her curly hair from a gene passed down by her grandmother.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A unit of heredity that is transferred from parent to child and controls a particular characteristic.
Scientists identified the gene responsible for the disease.
3. A section of DNA that carries the code for making a specific protein.
This gene tells the cell how to build a certain enzyme.
4. The basic physical and functional unit of heredity, made up of DNA.
Humans have thousands of genes arranged on their chromosomes.