noun
- a red blood cell; a mature mammalian blood cell that lacks a nucleus and contains hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout the body
Usage: technical/medical term; commonly used in medical and biological contexts
Examples
- Erythrocytes are produced in the bone marrow and circulate in the bloodstream for about 120 days.
- The patient's erythrocyte count was low, indicating anemia.
- Under a microscope, erythrocytes appear as small, disc-shaped cells.
- Hemoglobin within erythrocytes binds to oxygen in the lungs and releases it in the tissues.
- A complete blood count measures the number of erythrocytes per microliter of blood.