sperm cell
AmericanEtymology
Origin of sperm cell
First recorded in 1850–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We don’t tell a man with one sperm cell that he can’t try. But for some reason, we can bully women and shame them and make them feel bad for even having hope.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
It works by targeting ovarian function in female rats and disrupting sperm cell production in males, The New York Times reported.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 13, 2024
A novel screening system developed at Kyoto University enables researchers to investigate sperm cell development and health at the molecular level.
From Science Daily • Mar. 5, 2024
The 17th-century microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek claimed that each sperm cell contained within it a folded-up human being waiting patiently to unfurl.
From New York Times • Jun. 4, 2021
Whether the sperm cell will reach and penetrate the egg depends upon its own supply of ATP, generated in the mitochondria thickly clustered in the neck of the cell.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
