Haploid and diploid are terms which refer to the number of copies of a chromosome that are found in the genome of an organism. In humans, for example, there are two copies of
… each (of our 23) chromosomes. Thus, we are diploid. If there is only one copy of a chromosome, this is called haploid. Human sex cells as well as most plant sex cells (sperm/ pollen, ovum/ oval) are haploid. This is how you end up with a complement of chromosomes that is half your father's, half your mother's. Two haploid cells come together to form a diploid cell, and this cell eventually becomes a person. Diploid is a full set of chromosomes inherited from both parents. In humans this would be 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs in, mostly, somatic cells. Haploid is half this number of chromosomes and is the result of meiosis, where as diploid is the result of normal cellular mitosis (as well as the result of fertilization). In genetic notation haploid is depicted with "n" and diploid "2n" (MORE)