Question

The word meiosis comes from a Greek word meaning “to diminish”, or make less. How does this word’s origin relate to its meaning ?

Answer 1

Meiosis can be described as a process through which cells divides and each cell gets half the number of chromosomes of the parent cells. Crossing over occurs in meiosis. As the number of chromosome reduces in this type of cell division, hence it is termed as meiosis which means to lessen. The number of chromosomes are reduced so that the right number of chromosomes can be attained for an organism.