The cell cycle is made up of an interphase, when the cell is either undergoing normal functions or preparing to divide, and the actual process of division, which is called either mitosis (body cells) or meiosis (reproductive cells).

Cell division stages are presented in lower case:

Interphase stages are denoted by G1 (resting/normal function), S (synthesis of DNA ready for cell division) and G2 (growth and preparation for division), and are written with a hyphen: