Word.ws English Dictionary

Rhesus system

Rhesus system proper noun: a blood group system, the second most important after the ABO system, and important in human blood transfusion, whereby blood types are classified according to the presence ("positive") or absence ("negative") of potentially over 50 antigens, of which the most commonly referenced is RhD.

Proper noun

Rhesus system

  1. A blood group system, the second most important after the ABO system, and important in human blood transfusion, whereby blood types are classified according to the presence ("positive") or absence ("negative") of potentially over 50 antigens, of which the most commonly referenced is RhD.

Origin of Rhesus system

So named because the first identified antigen (RhD) was originally believed to be the same as one discovered in rhesus macaques.

Questions about Rhesus system

What does Rhesus system mean?
Rhesus system means a blood group system, the second most important after the ABO system, and important in human blood transfusion, whereby blood types are classified according to the presence ("positive") or absence ("negative") of potentially over 50 antigens, of which the most commonly referenced is RhD.
What part of speech is Rhesus system?
Rhesus system is a proper noun.

Words near Rhesus system in the dictionary

  1. rhesus macaques
  2. rhesus monkey
  3. rhesus monkeys
  4. Rhesus negative
  5. Rhesus positive
  6. Rhesus system
  7. rhesuses
  8. rhesusize
  9. rhesusized
  10. rhesusizes
  11. rhesusizing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Rhesus system (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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