ovum

[ oh-vuhm ]

noun

, plural o·va [oh, -v, uh].

1. 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.
2. Architecture. an oval ornament, as in an egg-and-dart molding.

ovum

/ ˈəʊvəm /

noun

1. an unfertilized female gamete; egg cell

Word History and Origins

Origin of ovum¹

First recorded in 1700–10; from Latin ōvum egg ¹; cognate with Greek ōión

Word History and Origins

Origin of ovum¹

from Latin: egg

Example Sentences

The ovum of Amphioxus contains very little food material and its segmentation is quite uniform.

From Project Gutenberg

A section of the embryo, as we may now call the ovum, is represented in Plate 5, fig.

From Project Gutenberg

The bulk of the ovum is composed of yolk spherules, imbedded in a protoplasmic matrix.

From Project Gutenberg

It contains in fact a larger bulk of active protoplasm, as compared with yolk-granules, than does the remainder of the ovum.

From Project Gutenberg

The outer of the three is composed of the largest-sized yolk-spherules which constitute the greater part of the ovum.

From Project Gutenberg