leptotene

noun Cell Biology.

1. a stage of cell division during the prophase of meiosis, in which the chromosomes are not distinct but appear as a mass of entangled threads.

noun

1. the first stage of the prophase of meiosis during which the nuclear material becomes resolved into slender single-stranded chromosomes

n.

1. The early stage of prophase in meiosis in which the replicated chromosomes contract and become visible as long filaments well separated from one another.