Mutant

How to spell mutant

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mutant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mutant mean?

1. nounAn organism or cell that carries a change in its genetic material, often producing unusual characteristics.
2. adjectiveResulting from or characterised by genetic mutation; altered from the normal form.

Mutant in a sentence

• noun

  The lab isolated a single mutant from the bacterial culture.

• adjective

  The mutant gene was passed down to half of the offspring.

• noun

  In the film, the radiation turned an ordinary fish into a glowing mutant.

• adjective

  Scientists tracked how the mutant strain spread through the population.

Where does mutant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows from the Latin verb mutare, which literally meant 'to change' or 'to alter', the same root that gives English 'mutate', 'mutation', and the everyday word 'commute' (originally 'to change together'). The present participle stem of mutare produced forms ending in -ant, describing something that is undergoing change. The scientific noun 'mutant' was coined in English in the early twentieth century, around 1901, by geneticists who needed a precise term for an organism carrying an inherited change in its genetic makeup. From that technical biology it spread quickly into popular science fiction, where a 'mutant' became any creature transformed into something strange or powerful. The spelling keeps the visible Latin root mut-, so remembering that it is about change (mutare) helps fix the single 't' before the -ant ending rather than a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• mut- (from Latin mutare: to change)
• -ant (noun/adjective suffix denoting one that performs an action)