The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
mitosis
(meye-TOH-sis) Division of a single cell into two identical daughter cells. Each daughter cell has an identical number of chromosomes as the parent cell. Mitosis begins when the DNA in the parent cell replicates itself; it ends with two cells having the same genes (seegenetics). Most cells in the human body, and all single-celled organisms, reproduce through mitosis. (Comparemeiosis.)