gameto-
Americancombining form
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Usage
What does gameto- mean? The combining form gameto- is used like a prefix meaning “gamete,” a scientific term for a mature sexual reproductive cell, such as a sperm or egg, that unites with another cell to form a new organism. It is very occasionally used in scientific terms, especially in biology.Gameto- ultimately comes from Greek gameîn, meaning “to marry.”What are variants of gameto-?When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, gameto- becomes gamet-, as in gametangium, which uses the Latin equivalent of the form. Additional combining forms of the same general origin include gamo-, -gamous, and -gamy. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for the forms.
Etymology
Origin of gameto-
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.