The process by which a cell physically divides into two separate cells after the nucleus has already divided during mitosis or meiosis.
From Greek 'cyto-' (cell) and 'kinesis' (movement). The term was coined in the early 1900s to describe the visible splitting of the cytoplasm that completes cell division.
Cytokinesis is why you can see cells actually pinching in half under a microscope—it's the dramatic final act of cell division where the cytoplasm gets pulled in opposite directions like taffy being stretched.
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