nucleus

Other forms of nucleus

plural

nuclei

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about nucleus

What does nucleus mean?

nucleus means "a part of the cell containing DNA and RNA and responsible for growth and reproduction". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in nucleus?

nucleus has 3 syllables: nu-cle-us. The stress falls on "nu". In IPA it is /ˈnukliəs/.

What is another word for nucleus?

Close synonyms include cell nucleus, karyon, core, core group, lens nucleus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is nucleus a common word?

nucleus is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.