tetrad
/ˈtɛtɹæd/ noun
Forms tetrads
- noun A group of four things.
- noun (biology) Two pairs of sister chromatids (a dyad pair) aligned in a certain way and often on the equatorial plane during the meiosis process.
- noun (biology) A group of four haploid and immature pollen grains in tetrahedral fashion produced by meiotic microsporogenesis.
- noun (cartography) A unit of land area of two by two (that is, four) square kilometres.
- noun (chemistry) A tetravalent atom or radical.
- noun (mathematics) A group of four basis vectors for a four-dimensional manifold in differential geometry.
- noun (music) A chord comprised of four notes; a tetrachord.
Synonyms
foursome quartet quadruplet quadruplicity quadrad quaternion quaternity tetraplet four 4 IV quatern quaternary Little Joe
Etymology
From Ancient Greek τετράς (tetrás), analysable as tetra- + -ad.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The number four; a collection of four things; a quaternion.
- noun A tetravalent or quadrivalent atom or radical; as, carbon is a tetrad.
Etymology [L. tetras, -adis, Gr. tétrade.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tetrad”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details