X chromosome
Origin
Named by Hermann Henking in 1890 from x (signifying the unknown) due to some baffling properties he had observed. The brief resemblance in the appearance of the X chromosome to the letter "X" during cell division is entirely coincidental.
David Bainbridge, The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives, pages 65-66, ISBN 0674016211.
Alternative forms
Full definition of X chromosome
Noun
X chromosome
(plural X chromosomes)- (genetics) A mammalian sex chromosome. Cells of females have a pair of X chromosomes while cells of males have an X and a Y.