Centimorgans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A unit of genetic measurement representing the distance between genes on a chromosome, indicating the likelihood of recombination occurring between them
2. Referring to a specific measure used in genetics to quantify the degree of linkage between alleles, helping to map inherited traits
3. Denoting a scale used in genetics where one centimorgan corresponds to a one percent chance of crossover occurring between two loci during meiosis

Etymology: The first part, "centi-", comes from Latin "centum", meaning "hundred", and it reached English through French. Its ancestry runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root that the source traces to *ḱm̥tóm, the word for "hundred," so the prefix in this term carries the sense of a hundredth. Attached to "morgan", it forms a term for a hundredth of a unit used in genetics. The plural "centimorgans" is simply the plural form of this noun, with the same two-part construction throughout. The second element, "morgan", is the name of the genetic unit that "centi-" modifies, so the whole term is a compound of a classical prefix and a scientific name, with no older English word hidden inside it.