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archegonium

[ahr-ki-goh-nee-uh m]
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noun, plural ar·che·go·ni·a [ahr-ki-goh-nee-uh] /ˌɑr kɪˈgoʊ ni ə/. Botany.
  1. the female reproductive organ in ferns, mosses, etc.
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Origin of archegonium

1850–55; < New Latin, equivalent to archegon- (< Greek archégonos first of a race; see arche-, gono-) + -ium < Greek -ion diminutive suffix
Related formsar·che·go·ni·al, ar·che·go·ni·ate [ahr-ki-goh-nee-it, -eyt] /ˌɑr kɪˈgoʊ ni ɪt, -ˌeɪt/, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for archegonium

Historical Examples

  • Throughout he compares the structure with the pistillum (archegonium) of Bryophyta.

    Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists

    Various

  • The neck of the archegonium is quite long, but does not project above the surface of the prothallium (Fig. 77, H).

  • The young sporogonium is protected by a thick calyptra derived from the tissue of the thallus around the archegonium.

  • Spermatozoids are formed in the antheridium, and these enter the archegonium and fertilize the germ cell.

    The Nursery Book

    Liberty Hyde Bailey

  • The female organ (archegonium) and the cell which it produces are practically identical in both cases.

    How to Know the Ferns

    S. Leonard Bastin

British Dictionary definitions for archegonium

archegonium

noun plural -nia (-nɪə)
  1. a female sex organ, occurring in mosses, spore-bearing vascular plants, and gymnosperms, that produces a single egg cell in its swollen base
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Derived Formsarchegoniate, adjective

Word Origin

C19: from New Latin, from Greek arkhegonos original parent, from arkhe- chief, first + gonos seed, race
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
archegonium in Science

archegonium

[är′kĭ-gō′nē-əm]
Plural archegonia
  1. The egg-producing organ occurring in bryophytes (such as mosses and liverworts), ferns, and most gymnosperms. The archegonium is a multicellular, often flask-shaped structure that contains a single egg. Compare antheridium.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.