PHOTOPIGMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does photopigment mean? 

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

1. a special pigment found in the rods and cones of the retina

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• PHOTOPIGMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A special pigment found in the rods and cones of the retina

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

pigment (dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.))

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

iodopsin (a violet photopigment in the retinal cones of the eyes of most vertebrates; plays a role in daylight vision)

retinal purple; rhodopsin; visual purple (a red photopigment in the retinal rods of vertebrates; dissociates into retinene by light)

 Context examples 

Severity of hereditary defects of color vision depends on the degree of mutation of the OPSIN genes (on X CHROMOSOME and CHROMOSOME 3, HUMAN) that code the photopigments for red, green and blue.

(Defective Color Vision, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)