red blood cell

noun

variants or less commonly red blood corpuscle or red cell or red corpuscle

: any of the hemoglobin-containing cells that carry oxygen to the tissues and in mammals are typically biconcave disks which lack a nucleus and cellular organelles and are formed from nucleated cells of the red bone marrow

Note: The number of red blood cells ranges from four to six million in each cubic millimeter of normal human blood. The red color of blood is due to the presence of hemoglobin within the red blood cells.

called also erythrocyte

compare white blood cell

Examples of red blood cell in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By Sebastian Smee The meanings of words such as honor, sacrifice, and humility have been leaking away from American civic life like red blood cells from an anemic. —Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026

Your body needs folate to repair DNA and make red blood cells that carry oxygen. —Merve Ceylan, Health, 4 June 2026

Immune cells here degraded old and damaged red blood cells, accumulating iron from the hemoglobin for a short period. —Kasha Patel, CNN Money, 29 May 2026

Per the Cleveland Clinic, HUS blocks small blood vessels in the kidneys, destroying red blood cells and reducing platelets in the blood. —Chiara Kim, PEOPLE, 28 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for red blood cell

• bagatelle
• calomel
• caravel
• carousel
• carrousel
• citadel
• clientele
• commonweal
• coronel
• decibel
• demoiselle
• fontanelle

Kids Definition

red blood cell

noun

: a reddish cell of the blood that contains hemoglobin and carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues

called also erythrocyte, red blood corpuscle, red cell, red corpuscle

Medical Definition

red blood cell

noun

: any of the hemoglobin-containing cells that carry oxygen to the tissues and are responsible for the red color of vertebrate blood

called also erythrocyte, red blood corpuscle, red cell, red corpuscle

compare white blood cell