HB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Hb mean? 

• HB (noun)
  The noun HB has 1 sense:

1. a hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their characteristic color; function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues

  Familiarity information: HB used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HB (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their characteristic color; function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

haemoglobin; Hb; hemoglobin

Context example:

fish have simpler hemoglobin than mammals

Hypernyms ("Hb" is a kind of...):

haemoprotein; hemoprotein (a conjugated protein linked to a compound of iron and porphyrin)

Meronyms (substance of "Hb"):

haem; haemitin; hematin; heme; protoheme (a complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds)

globin; haematohiston; hematohiston (a colorless protein obtained by removing heme from hemoglobin; the oxygen carrying compound in red blood cells)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Hb"):

oxyhaemoglobin; oxyhemoglobin (the bright red hemoglobin that is a combination of hemoglobin and oxygen from the lungs)

Holonyms ("Hb" is a substance of...):

erythrocyte; RBC; red blood cell (a mature blood cell that contains hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the bodily tissues; a biconcave disc that has no nucleus)

 Context examples 

The red respiratory protein of erythrocytes, consisting of approximately 3.8% heme and 96.2% globin (64.5 KD), which as oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) transports oxygen from the lungs to the tissues where the oxygen is readily released and HbO2 becomes Hb.

(Hemoglobin, NCI Thesaurus)