ovum

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

ovum (plural ova)

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

Synonyms

• megagamete

Hypernyms

• gamete

Coordinate terms

• 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)
• Armenian: ձվաբջիջ (hy) (jvabǰiǰ)
• Azerbaijani: yumurta (az)
• Belarusian: яйцакле́тка f (jajcakljétka)
• Bengali: ডিম্ব (ḍimb)
• Bulgarian: яйцекле́тка f (jajceklétka)
• Burmese: သားဥ (sa:u.)
• Catalan: òvul (ca)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: vajíčko (cs) n
• Danish: ægcelle c
• Dutch: eicel (nl) m or f
• Estonian: munarakk
• Finnish: munasolu (fi)
• French: ovule (fr) m
• Georgian: კვერცხუჯრედი (ḳvercxuǯredi)
• German: Eizelle (de) f, Ovum (de) n
• Greek: ωάριο (el) n (oário)
• Hebrew: בֵּיצִית‎ (he) f (beitsit)
• Hindi: डिम्ब (hi) m (ḍimb)
• Hungarian: pete (hu), petesejt (hu)
• Icelandic: eggfruma f, egg (is) n
• Indonesian: ovum (id)
• Irish: ubhán m
• Italian: ovulo (it) m
• Japanese: 卵 (ja) (らん, ran), 卵子 (ja) (らんし, ranshi)
• Kazakh: аналық жасуша (analıq jaswşa), ұрық жасуша (urıq jaswşa)
• Korean: 난자(卵子) (ko) (nanja), 란자 (ranja) (North Korea)

• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hêkexane f, xaneya hêkê f

• Kyrgyz: урук клеткасы (uruq kletqası), энелик клетка (enelik kletqa)
• Latvian: olšūna f
• Lithuanian: kiaušialąstė f
• Macedonian: јајце клетка f (jajce kletka)
• Malay: ovum

  Jawi: اوۏوم‎

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

  Bokmål: eggcelle m or f

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

  Cyrillic: јајашце n

  Roman: jajašce (sh) n

• Slovak: vajíčko n, vajcová bunka f
• Slovene: jajčece (sl) n
• Spanish: óvulo (es) m
• Swedish: äggcell (sv) c
• Tagalog: itlog (tl)
• Tajik: тухмҳуҷайра (tuxmhujayra)
• Thai: เซลล์ไข่ (seel-kài)
• Turkish: yumurta (tr), yumurta hücresi
• Ukrainian: яйцекліти́на (uk) f (jajceklitýna)
• Uzbek: tuxumhujayra, tuxum (uz)
• Vietnamese: trứng (vi), noãn (vi)

See also

• oocyte

---

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay ovum, from Latin ōvum.

Noun

ovum (first-person possessive ovumku, second-person possessive ovummu, third-person possessive ovumnya)

1. (cytology) ovum (gamete)

   Synonym: sel telur

Further reading

• “ovum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik 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”), likely a derivative of *h₂éwis (“bird”) (whence also Latin avis (“bird”)). Cognates include Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión), Old Church Slavonic аице (aice), Persian خایه‎ (ḵẖāya), Old Norse egg, Old English ǣġ.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈoː.u̯um/, [ˈoːu̯ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.vum/, [ˈɔːvum]

Noun

ōvum n (genitive ōvī); second declension

1. egg

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	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

Descendants

All descendants reflect *ŏvum.

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: ou
  • Romanian: ou
• Dalmato-Romance:
  • Dalmatian: juf
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: uovo
  • Neapolitan: uòvo
  • Sicilian: uòvu, ou, ovu
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: ûf, ûv
  • Lombard: euv
  • Piedmontese: euv
  • Romansch: ov, öv, iev
  • Venetian: óvo
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Francoprovençal: of
    • Franco-Provençal: of, uef (Savoyard)
  • Old French: oef, of
    • French: œuf
    • Norman: oeu
    • Picard: uë
    • Walloon: oû
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: ou
  • Occitan: ueu, uòu
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: güego
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: güevu
    • Leonese: guevu
    • Mirandese: uobo
  • Old Portuguese: ovo
    • Galician: ovo
    • Portuguese: ovo, ova
  • Old Spanish: hueuo, ueuo
    • Ladino: guevo
    • Spanish: huevo, hueva
      • Papiamentu: webu
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: obu, ovu, ou
• Borrowings:
  • →? Albanian: ve
  • → English: ovum
  • → Esperanto: ovo
    • → Ido: ovo
  • → Interlingua: ovo
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: ovo
  • → Spanish: ovo

References

• “ovum”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; 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, informal 1st possessive ovumku, 2nd possessive ovummu, 3rd possessive ovumnya)

1. (cytology) ovum (gamete)