Decaploid

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A genetic term describing an organism with ten sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two
2. Referring to a chromosomal configuration where there are ten complete sets of genetic material present
3. Pertaining to a condition in which cells contain ten times the haploid number of chromosomes, indicating a high level of genetic duplication

Etymology: "Decaploid" is a plain scientific compound: "deca-" from Greek "deka" meaning ten, joined to "-ploid," the suffix from Greek "-ploos" meaning "-fold" or "-times," which geneticists use to describe how many complete sets of chromosomes a cell or organism carries. A diploid organism has two sets, a tetraploid has four, and a decaploid has ten. The pieces are old, but the combined word is a modern coinage from the scientific vocabulary of genetics, built the same way as related terms like "octoploid" and "polyploid." Its meaning is strictly technical: it describes chromosome counts, not anything about sizes or quantities in general. The "ploid" element itself was adopted into biological English in the early twentieth century, when cytologists needed precise terms for chromosome multiplication, which is why the word's sense is so narrow and exact.