archegonium

[ahr-ki-goh-nee-uh m]

noun, plural ar·che·go·ni·a [ahr-ki-goh-nee-uh] /ˌɑr kɪˈgoʊ ni ə/. Botany.

the female reproductive organ in ferns, mosses, etc.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for archegonium

Historical Examples of archegonium

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).
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany
Douglas Houghton Campbell
The young sporogonium is protected by a thick calyptra derived from the tissue of the thallus around the archegonium.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3
Various
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)

a female sex organ, occurring in mosses, spore-bearing vascular plants, and gymnosperms, that produces a single egg cell in its swollen base

Derived Formsarchegoniate, adjective

Word Origin for archegonium

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

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.