embryo
English
Alternative forms
- α forms (after the Medieval Latin embryo): embrio [Middle English to the 18th century], embryo [17th century to the present] (singular forms); embryones [17th century to the present], embrio’s [17th–18th centuries], embrioes [17th century], embryos [19th century to the present] (plural forms)
- β forms (after the stem (embryōn-) of the Medieval Latin embryo): embrioun [Middle English], embrion [Middle English to the 18th century], embryon [17th–19th centuries] (singular forms); embrions [17th C.], embryons [17th–19th centuries] (plural forms)
- γ forms (after the Ancient Greek ἔμβρυον (embruon)): embryon [17th century to the present] (singular form); embryons [17th century to the present], embrya [18th century to the present] (plural forms)
Etymology
A Medieval Latin corruption of Ancient Greek ἔμβρυον (embruon, “fetus”), from ἐν (en-, “in-”) + βρύω (bruō, “I grow, swell”).
Pronunciation
Noun
embryo (plural embryos or embryones)
- In the reproductive cycle, the stage after the fertilization of the egg that precedes the development into a fetus.
- An organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.
- In viviparous animals, the young animal's earliest stages in the mother's body
- In humans, usually the cell growth up to the end of the seventh week in the mother's body
- (botany) A rudimentary plant contained in the seed.
- The beginning; the first stage of anything.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 419:
- it dives into the heart of the observed, and there espies evil, as it were, in the first embryo [...]
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 419:
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
fertilized egg before developing into a fetus
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an organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis
in viviparous animals: the young animal's earliest stages in the mother's body
in humans: the cell growth up to the end of the seventh week in the mother's body
botany: rudimentary plant contained in the seed
the beginning; the first stage of anything
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External links
Anagrams
Dutch
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Finnish
Noun
embryo
- (rare) embryo
Declension
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Declension of embryo (type valtio)
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Synonyms
Swedish
Noun
embryo n
- embryo; an unborn baby that is less developed than a fetus.
- embryo; an organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.