thymus
pronunciation
How to pronounce thymus in British English:
UK [ˈθaɪməs]
How to pronounce thymus in American English:
US ['θaɪməs]
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- Noun:
- a ductless glandular organ at the base of the neck that produces lymphocytes and aids in producing immunity; atrophies with age
Word Origin
- thymus (n.)
- gland near the base of the neck, 1690s, Modern Latin, from Greek thymos "a warty excrescence," used of the gland by Galen, literally "thyme," probably so called because of a fancied resemblance to a bud of thyme (see thyme). Related: Thymic.
Example
- 1. The process of t-cell development in the thymus requires progenitor cells to rearrange pieces of dna .
- 2. Only a tiny percentage of t cells pass these tests and are allowed to leave the thymus and circulate in the body to defend against viruses , other diseases , and cancerous cells .
- 3. In order to determine the potential of etps , the team first had to separate etps from all the other cells in a mouse thymus .
- 4. Chakraborty and colleagues had previously developed computational models of t-cell development in the thymus , an organ located behind the breastbone through which t cells must pass in order to become mature killers .
- 5. Since etps showed the potential to give rise to myeloid cell types , the team also asked whether some of the myeloid cells in the thymus normally arise from etps .