ovum

[oh-vuh m]

See more synonyms for ovum on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural o·va

[oh-vuh] /ˈoʊ və/.

Cell Biology.
1. the female reproductive cell or gamete of animals, which is capable of developing, usually only after fertilization, into a new individual.
2. the female reproductive cell or gamete of plants.
Architecture. an oval ornament, as in an egg-and-dart molding.

Origin of ovum

1700–10; < Latin ōvum egg¹; cognate with Greek ōión

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for ovum

seed, egg, gamete, spore, oosphere

Examples from the Web for ovum

Historical Examples of ovum

One is an ovum, and these are the principle the mother gives to the future child.
Almost A Man
Mary Wood-Allen
And as the rose springs from the seed, so the horse develops from the ovum.
The Heart of Nature
Francis Younghusband
When the twins come from one ovum the condition is not so simple.
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation
Austin O'Malley
The cervix is then more or less dilated and the ovum is palpable.
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation
Austin O'Malley
Ovum, shows the process of development in all its stages, 43, 44.
A Century of Science and Other Essays
John Fiske

British Dictionary definitions for ovum

ovum

noun plural ova (ˈəʊvə)

an unfertilized female gamete; egg cell

Word Origin for ovum

from Latin: egg

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

Word Origin and History for ovum

(plural ova), 1706, from Latin ovum "egg," cognate with Greek oon, Old Norse egg, Old English æg, all perhaps from PIE root *awi- (see egg (n.)).

ovum in Medicine