White blood cells (WBCs)
- ICSE Class 10, Unit 3 Human Anatomy and Physiology
White blood cells are the blood cells that defend the body against germs, either by eating them or by making antibodies.
White blood cells are also called WBCs or leucocytes. They have a nucleus and no colour. There are far fewer of them than red blood cells. They can squeeze out through the walls of the thinnest blood vessels to reach a wound.
They come in two groups, and each type has its own job:
- With grains in the cytoplasm (granulocytes): neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils. Neutrophils eat germs.
- Without grains (agranulocytes): monocytes, which also eat germs, and lymphocytes, which make antibodies.
A small example
You get a small cut and germs get in. Neutrophils reach the spot first and swallow the germs. This is called phagocytosis. Lymphocytes make antibodies that help the body fight the same germ later.
Where marks go
Question 4(ii) of the 2025 ICSE Biology paper asked which WBCs eat germs and which make antibodies. In CISCE's report on the 2025 Biology paper, examiners name two errors. One was writing "lymphocytes" instead of "neutrophils". The other was writing "WBCs" or "leukocytes" in general, "instead of specifying the type of WBC".
So name the exact cell. The 2027 specimen paper tests the same grouping: in its odd-one-out question, monocyte is the odd one and the rest are granulocytes. See how specimen papers show the board's format.
Sources
Facts last checked against these sources on 30 September 2026.
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