A cell of the living epidermis and certain oral epithelium that produces keratin in the process of differentiating into the dead and fully keratinized cells of the stratum corneum.
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ke·ra·ti·no·cyte kə-'rat-ən-ə-.sīt, .ker-ə-'tin- n an epidermal cell that produces keratin
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n.
a type of cell that makes up 95% of the cells of the epidermis. Keratinocytes migrate from the deeper layers of the epidermis and are finally shed from the surface of the skin.
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ke·rat·i·no·cyte (kə-ratґĭ-no-sīt) an epidermal cell that synthesizes keratin; about 95 per cent of the cells of the epidermis are of this type. They and the melanocytes form the binary cell system of the epidermis. In its successive stages, the keratinocyte is known as basal cell, prickle cell, and granular cell. Called also malpighian cell.Medical dictionary. 2011.