ovum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōvum (“egg”). Doublet of egg, ey, huevo, and oeuf.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊ.vəm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.vəm/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

ovum (plural ova)

1. (cytology) The female gamete in animals; the egg cell.

   Synonyms: egg cell, egg, megagamete

   Hypernym: gamete

   Coordinate term: spermatozoon

Derived terms

• ovism
• ovist
• ovo-

Related terms

• oval
• Ovaltine
• ovary
• ovate
• oviparous
• ovoid
• ovo-lacto-vegetarian
• ovulate

Translations

gamete

• Albanian: vezë (sq) f, ovum m
• Arabic: بُيَيْضَة f (buyayḍa), بُوَيْضَة f (buwayḍa)

  Egyptian Arabic: بويضة f (buwayḍa)

• Armenian: ձվաբջիջ (hy) (jvabǰiǰ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܹܥܬܵܐ f (beʿta)
• Azerbaijani: yumurta (az)
• Basque: obulu
• Belarusian: яйцакле́тка f (jajcakljétka)
• Bengali: ডিম্বাণু (bn) (ḍimbanu)
• Bulgarian: яйцекле́тка f (jajceklétka)
• Burmese: သားဥ (sa:u.)
• Catalan: òvul (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 卵 (leon^5-2)

  Hakka: 卵 (lón)

  Hokkien: 卵 (zh-min-nan) (nn̄g)

  Mandarin: 卵 (zh) (luǎn), 卵子 (zh) (luǎnzǐ)

• Cornish: oy m
• Czech: vajíčko (cs) n
• Danish: æg (da) n, ægcelle c
• Dutch: eicel (nl) m or f
• Estonian: munarakk
• Faroese: egg (fo) n
• Finnish: munasolu (fi)
• French: ovule (fr) m
• Georgian: კვერცხუჯრედი (ḳvercxuǯredi)
• German: Ovum (de) n, Eizelle (de) f
• Greek: αβγό (el) n (avgó), ωάριο (el) n (oário)
• Greenlandic: mannik
• Hawaiian: hua
• Hebrew: בֵּיצִית (he) f (beitsit)
• Hiligaynon: itlog
• Hindi: डिम्ब (hi) m (ḍimb)
• Hungarian: pete (hu), petesejt (hu)
• Icelandic: egg (is) n, eggfruma f
• Ido: ovo (io)
• Indonesian: ovum (id)
• Irish: ubh (ga) f, ubhán m
• Italian: ovulo (it) m
• Japanese: 卵 (ja) (らん, ran), 卵子 (ja) (らんし, ranshi)
• Kaurna: muka
• Kazakh: аналық жасуша (analyq jasuşa), ұрық жасуша (ūryq jasuşa)
• Khmer: ស៊ុត (km) (sut)
• Korean: 난자(卵子) (ko) (nanja), 란자 (ranja) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hêkexane f, xaneya hêkê f

• Kyrgyz: урук клеткасы (uruk kletkası), энелик клетка (enelik kletka)
• Latin: ovum (la) n
• Latvian: olšūna f
• Lithuanian: kiaušialąstė f, kiaušinėlis m
• Luxembourgish: Eezell f
• Macedonian: јајце клетка f (jajce kletka)
• Malay: ovum

  Jawi: اوۏوم

• Malayalam: അണ്ഡം (ml) (aṇḍaṁ)
• Marathi: अंड (mr) (aṇḍa), अंडकोश (aṇḍkoś)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: egg (no) n, eggcelle m or f

  Nynorsk: egg n

• Persian: تخمک (fa) (toxmak)
• Polish: jajo (pl) n, jajeczko (pl) n, komórka jajowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: óvulo (pt) m
• Romanian: ovul (ro) n
• Russian: яйцекле́тка (ru) f (jajceklétka)
• Scottish Gaelic: ugh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јајашце n

  Roman: jajašce (sh) n, jajna ćelija f

• Slovak: vajcová bunka f, vajíčko n
• Slovene: jajčece (sl) n
• Spanish: óvulo (es) m
• Swahili: yai (sw)
• Swedish: ägg (sv) n, äggcell (sv) c
• Tagalog: itlog (tl)
• Tajik: тухмҳуҷайра (tuxmhujayra)
• Tamil: முட்டை (ta) (muṭṭai)
• Thai: เซลล์ไข่ (seel-kài)
• Turkish: ovum (tr), yumurta (tr), yumurta hücresi
• Ukrainian: яйцекліти́на (uk) f (jajceklitýna)
• Uzbek: tuxumhujayra, tuxum (uz)
• Vietnamese: noãn (vi), trứng (vi)
• West Frisian: aai (fy) n
• Zazaki: akk

See also

• oocyte
• ovia

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay ovum, from Latin ōvum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔvʊm/
• Rhymes: -ɔvʊm, -vʊm, -ʊm, -m
• Hyphenation: ovum

Noun

ovum (plural ovum-ovum)

1. (cytology) ovum (gamete)

   Synonym: sel telur

   • 2018, “Lahir Mata Satir”, performed by Deadsquad:

     Terbentuk dari ovum yang hina
     Dibuahi sperma dan ludah
     Diberkati jiwa yang cacat

     Formed from despised ovum
     Fertilized sperm and saliva
     Blessed with defective soul

Related terms

• ovulasi

Further reading

• “ovum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Japanese

Romanization

ovum

1. Rōmaji transcription of おゔむ
2. Rōmaji transcription of オヴム

Latin

ōva gallīnārum ― hens' eggs

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *ōwom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈoː.wũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɔː.vum]

Noun

ōvum n (genitive ōvī); second declension

1. egg

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	ōvum	ōva
genitive	ōvī	ōvōrum
dative	ōvō	ōvīs
accusative	ōvum	ōva
ablative	ōvō	ōvīs
vocative	ōvum	ōva

Derived terms

• ōvārium
• ōvātus
• ōvicō
• ōviparus

Related terms

• avis (“bird”)

Descendants

(Balkan and Insular Romance forms may derive from *ŏvum)

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: ou
  • Megleno-Romanian: uou
  • Romanian: ou
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: ou, ovu
• Vulgar Latin: *ŏvum (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → English: ovum
  • → Esperanto: ovo
    • → Ido: ovo
  • → Interlingua: ovo
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: ovo
  • → Spanish: ovo

Further reading

• “ovum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ovum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "ovum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• ovum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) from beginning to end: ab ovo usque ad mala (proverb.)
    
• “ovum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from English ovum, from Latin ōvum, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm, likely a derivative of *h₂éwis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ovom]
• Rhymes: -vom, -om

Noun

ovum (Jawi spelling اوۏوم, plural ovum-ovum)

1. (cytology) ovum (gamete)