A eukaryote (/juːˈkæri.oʊt/ or /juːˈkæriət/ yoo-KARR-ee-oht or yoo-KARR-ee-ət) is any organism whose cells contain a nucleus and other organelles enclosed within membranes.

Eukaryotes belong to the taxon Eukarya or Eukaryota. The defining feature that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells (Bacteria and Archaea) is that they have membrane-bound organelles, especially the nucleus, which contains the genetic material, and is enclosed by the nuclear envelope. The presence of a nucleus gives eukaryotes their name, which comes from the Greek εὖ (eu, "well") and κάρυον (karyon, "nut" or "kernel"). Eukaryotic cells also contain other membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria and the Golgi apparatus. In addition, plants and algae contain chloroplasts. Eukaryotic organisms may be unicellular, or multicellular. Only eukaryotes have many kinds of tissue made up of different cell types.

Eukaryotes can reproduce both by asexual reproduction through mitosis and sexual reproduction through meiosis. In mitosis, one cell divides to produce two genetically identical cells. In meiosis, DNA replication is followed by two rounds of cell division to produce four daughter cells each with half the number of chromosomes as the original parent cell (haploid cells). These act as sex cells (gametes – each gamete has just one complement of chromosomes, each a unique mix of the corresponding pair of parental chromosomes) resulting from genetic recombination during meiosis.