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

Every ovum must be accounted for in this religious right version of Big Brother.

From Salon

Its abortion ban says there’s an “unborn child” at “the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum,” which would also seem to include frozen embryos in a lab.

From Slate

The ovum was seen through a microscope in 1827.

From Salon

In May, the trial court ruling was reversed by a California 3rd District Court of Appeal opinion that found the state Legislature defined the term “fish” as “a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals.”

From Los Angeles Times

In March in Missouri, which now has a post-Roe abortion ban, Gabriela, who asked to be identified by her first name, said she had a blighted ovum, in which a fertilized egg implants in the uterus but doesn’t develop.

From New York Times