archegonium

[ ahr-ki-goh-nee-uhm ]

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

Other words from archegonium

ar·che·go·ni·al, ar·che·go·ni·ate [ahr-ki-goh-nee-it, -eyt], /ˌɑr kɪˈgoʊ ni ɪt, -ˌeɪt/, adjective

Words Nearby archegonium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use archegonium in a sentence

A single archegonium—later capsule—is found in each of the half-dozen involucres.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various
Throughout he compares the structure with the pistillum (archegonium) of Bryophyta.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various
The fertilized nucleus or germ-cell of the archegonium in Cryptogams, from which the new plant is directly developed.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States | Asa Gray
The female organ (archegonium) and the cell which it produces are practically identical in both cases.
How to Know the Ferns | S. Leonard Bastin
Spermatozoids are formed in the antheridium, and these enter the archegonium and fertilize the germ cell.
The Nursery Book | Liberty Hyde Bailey

British Dictionary definitions for archegonium

archegonium

/ (ˌɑːkɪˈɡəʊnɪəm) /

nounplural -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

Origin of archegonium

C19: from New Latin, from Greek arkhegonos original parent, from arkhe- chief, first + gonos seed, race

Derived forms of archegonium

archegoniate, adjective

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

Scientific definitions for archegonium

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.

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