spermatium
Americannoun
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spermatia
plural
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Botany. the nonmotile male gamete of a red alga.
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Mycology. a minute, colorless cell, of certain fungi and lichens, believed to be a male reproductive body, developed within spermogonia.
noun
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spermatia
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spermatium
1855–60; < New Latin < Greek spermátion, equivalent to spermat- (stem of spérma ) sperm 1 + -ion -ium
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.
Like a powder-coated bee spreading pollen from plant to plant, isopods spread spermatia throughout a tide pool as they travel between seaweed clumps.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 28, 2022
Because Gracilaria gracilis produce spermatia that, like pollen grains, cannot move on their own, Dr. Valero wondered if the isopods might be playing a role in the spermatia’s dispersal.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2022
As isopods scuttle along a male seaweed stalk, they are bombarded by spermatia, which are coated in a tacky, mucuslike substance.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 28, 2022
They examined the isopods under a microscope and found that they had spermatia stuck to nearly every part of their bodies.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2022
How these influence each other, when and under what circumstances the spermatia are instrumental in impregnation of the sporidia, is still matter of mystery.
From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt) Cooke
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.
