thylakoid
nounUK /ˈθaɪləkɔɪd/
US /ˈθaɪləkɔɪd/
A tiny green pancake inside a plant cell where sunlight is turned into food.
The thylakoids in the leaf's chloroplasts capture sunlight to help the plant make sugar.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A flattened sac or vesicle inside a chloroplast that contains the light-harvesting pigments.
Each thylakoid is stacked like a coin to form a granum.
3. Any of the internal membrane-bound compartments of cyanobacteria where light reactions occur.
In cyanobacteria, thylakoids are not enclosed within a chloroplast.
4. A membrane system in some photosynthetic bacteria that holds the proteins for capturing light energy.
The bacterial thylakoid provides a large surface area for light absorption.