Main Entry: he·mat·o·crit

Variant(s): or chiefly British hae·ma·to·crit \hi-ˈmat-ə-krət, -ˌkrit\

Function: noun

1 : an instrument for determining usually by centrifugation the relative amounts of plasma and corpuscles in blood
2 : the percent of the volume of whole blood that is composed of red blood cells as determined by separation of red blood cells from the plasma usually by centrifugation <a hematocrit ranging from 42% to 52% in males and 35% to 47% in females is typically considered normal>—called also packed cell volume