Ribosomes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small cellular entities essential for synthesizing proteins by translating genetic information into amino acids sequences
2. Organelles that play a key role in the production of proteins by decoding messenger RNA into polypeptides
3. Tiny cellular components responsible for assembling proteins from amino acids based on genetic instructions

Etymology: Ribosomes is the plural of "ribosome," and the singular is a compound of two parts. The first, "ribo-," is a clipped form of "ribonucleic acid," the molecule usually abbreviated RNA, whose name in turn was built from "ribose," the sugar that forms its backbone. The second part, "-some," comes from Greek "soma," meaning "body," and in biology it became the standard suffix for small bodies inside cells, as in "chromosome" and "lysosome." The word therefore names a "ribo-body," a body rich in ribonucleic acid. Ribosomes are indeed RNA-rich structures, and they are where cells assemble proteins from amino acids. The name describes what the particle is made of rather than what it does, which is why it sounds like a chemical label more than a functional one.