Platelets are a kind of blood cell. If you cut yourself and you are bleeding, platelets help to stop the bleeding.
[technical]
platelet in British English
(ˈpleɪtlɪt)
noun
a minute cell occurring in the blood of vertebrates and involved in clotting of the blood
Formerly called: thrombocyte
Word origin
C19: a small plate
platelet in American English
(ˈpleɪtlɪt)
noun
1.
any of certain round or oval, nonnucleated disks, smaller than a red blood cell and containing no hemoglobin, found in the blood of mammals and associated with the process of blood clotting
2.
thrombocyte (sense 1)
Word origin
plate + -let
Examples of 'platelet' in a sentence
platelet
They can help your body to make healthy red and white blood cells or platelets.
The Sun (2014)
The mineral helps to reduce the activity of blood platelets which cause blood to clot.
The Sun (2013)
The condition stops the bone marrow producing enough blood cells or platelets.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Many of the drugs owe their thrombocytopenic effect to an increased destruction of platelets.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Even when he was discharged from hospital he had to have blood and platelet transfusions twice a week for months.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The tendency to bleed too easily is often the result of a reduction in the number of platelets in the blood.