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hetero-

Different or other.

Greek heteros, other.

This prefix is common and active and is often contrasted with homo‑1, the same. An example is heterosexual, of a person who is sexually attracted to the opposite sex, as opposed to homosexual. A heterodox (Greek doxa, opinion) opinion is one that does not conform to accepted or orthodox standards; something heterogeneous (Greek genos, race or kind) is diverse in character or content, or composed of parts of different kinds; heterogametic refers to the sex that produces different types of sex chromosomes (in humans the male, in birds, the female); heterozygous describes an individual having two different alleles of a particular gene or genes, and so giving rise to varying offspring.

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