allele

Borrowed from German Allel, shortened from Allelomorph, from English allelomorph. Ultimately from the Ancient Greek prefix ἀλληλ- (allēl-) from ἄλλος (állos, “other”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæ.liː.l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈ.liː.l/
• Rhymes: -iːl

allele (plural alleles)

1. (genetics) One of a number of alternative forms of the same gene occupying a given position, or locus, on a chromosome.
   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

• allelomorph

• allele frequency
• allelic
• allodeterminant
• suballele

allele

1. inflection of allel:
   1. strong and mixed nominative and accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative and accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine and neuter singular

allele m (plural alleli)

1. (genetics) allele