Main Entry:

lo·cus

Pronunciation:

\ˈlō-kəs\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural lo·ci \ˈlō-ˌsī, -ˌkī, -ˌkē\

Etymology:

Latin — more at stall

Date:

1715

1 a: the place where something is situated or occurs : site, location <was the culture of medicine in the beginning dispersed from a single focus or did it arise in several loci? — S. C. Harvey> b: a center of activity, attention, or concentration <in democracy the locus of power is in the people — H. G. Rickover>2: the set of all points whose location is determined by stated conditions3: the position in a chromosome of a particular gene or allele