Possession of two haploid nuclei within the same cytoplasm.

The dikaryotic state can be viewed as either an extension of or instead special case of the heterokaryonic state, with the two nuclei having been sourced from different parents.

Importantly, though the dikaryotic state is diploid-like, it nevertheless is technically not identical to being diploid since that is attained only following karyogamy. Instead, you can view the dikaryon as essentially representing a long delay between fertilization and formation of a zygote, which in fact basically it is.

The dikaryonic state dominates especially the life cycle of bacidiomycete fungi (that is, members of the fungal phylum, ). In other fungal typesl the dikarynoic stage can be substantially more .