Standard Lemma guide

ovary

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈəʊvəɹi/
  • US: /ˈoʊvəɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: OW1 V ER2 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A female reproductive organ, often paired, that produces ova in most animals, and in mammals, secretes the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

Examples

  • The male testicles are homologous to the female ovaries.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The lower part of a pistil or carpel that bears ovules and ripens into fruit.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

(vertebrates) one of usually two organs that produce ova and secrete estrogen and progesterone

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: female internal reproductive organ, gonad, sex gland

4

noun

Meaning 4

the organ that bears the ovules of a flower

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: reproductive structure

History

Etymology

From New Latin ovarium, from Medieval Latin ovaria (“bird ovary”), from Latin ovum (“egg”). Doublet of ovarium.

Across languages

Translations

116 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِبْيَض (mibyaḍ) — female organ
  • Arabic: مَبِيض (mabīḍ) — female organ
  • Arabic: مبيض (mabyaḍ) — female organ
  • Armenian: ձվարան (jvaran) — female organ
  • Asturian: ovariu — female organ
  • Azerbaijani: yumurtalıq — female organ
  • Basque: obulutegi — female organ
  • Belarusian: яе́чнік (jajéčnik) — female organ
  • Bengali: ডিম্বাশয় (ḍimbaśoẏ) — female organ
  • Breton: vigell — female organ
  • Bulgarian: я́йчник (jájčnik) — female organ
  • Catalan: ovari — female organ
  • Chinese Cantonese: 卵巢 (leon2 caau4) — female organ
  • Chinese Mandarin: 卵巢 (luǎncháo) — female organ
  • Czech: vaječník — female organ
  • Danish: æggestok — female organ
  • Dhivehi: ބިސްރަވަ (bisrava) — female organ
  • Dutch: eierstok — female organ
  • Dutch: ovarium — female organ
  • Dutch: vruchtbeginsel — female organ
  • Esperanto: ovario — female organ
  • Esperanto: ovujo — female organ
  • Estonian: munasari — female organ
  • Finnish: munasarja — female organ
  • French: ovaire — female organ
  • Galician: ovario — female organ
  • German: Eierstock — female organ
  • German: Ovar — female organ
  • German: Ovarium — female organ
  • Greek: ωοθήκη (oothíki) — female organ
  • Hebrew: שַׁחֲלָה (shakhala) — female organ
  • Hindi: डिम्बग्रंथि (ḍimbagranthi) — female organ
  • Hindi: अंडाशय (aṇḍāśay) — female organ
  • Hungarian: petefészek — female organ
  • Icelandic: eggjastokkur — female organ
  • Indonesian: ovarium — female organ
  • Irish: ubhagán — female organ
  • Irish: síollann — female organ
  • Italian: ovaia — female organ
  • Italian: ovaio — female organ
  • Italian: ovario — female organ
  • Japanese: 卵巣 (ransō) — female organ
  • Kazakh: аналық без (analyq bez) — female organ
  • Khmer: អូវែ (ʼouvɛɛ) — female organ
  • Korean: 난소 (nanso) — female organ
  • Northern Kurdish: hêkdank — female organ
  • Latvian: olnīca — female organ
  • Lithuanian: kiauši̇̀dė — female organ
  • Macedonian: јајчник (jajčnik) — female organ
  • Malay: اوۏاري (ovari) — female organ
  • Māori: wharekano — female organ
  • Marathi: अंडाशय (aṇḍāśay) — female organ
  • Marathi: बीजांडकोश (bījāṇḍkoś) — female organ
  • Mongolian: өндгөвч (öndgövč) — female organ
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eggstokk — female organ
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: eggstokk — female organ
  • Persian: تخمدان (toxm-dân) — female organ
  • Polish: jajnik — female organ
  • Portuguese: ovário — female organ
  • Romanian: ovar — female organ
  • Russian: яи́чник (jaíčnik) — female organ
  • Scottish Gaelic: ughag — female organ
  • Scottish Gaelic: ughlann — female organ
  • Scottish Gaelic: uigheagan — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: јајник — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: овариј — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: оваријум — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: jajnik — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: ovarij — female organ
  • Serbo-Croatian: ovarijum — female organ
  • Slovak: vaječník — female organ
  • Slovene: jájčnik — female organ
  • Spanish: ovario — female organ
  • Swahili: ovari — female organ
  • Swedish: äggstock — female organ
  • Tagalog: bahay-itlog — female organ
  • Tagalog: obaryo — female organ
  • Tagalog: itlugan — female organ
  • Tamil: சூலகம் (cūlakam) — female organ
  • Telugu: అండాశయము (aṇḍāśayamu) — female organ
  • Thai: รังไข่ (rang-kài) — female organ
  • Turkish: yumurtalık — female organ
  • Ukrainian: яє́чник (jajéčnyk) — female organ
  • Uzbek: toxumdon — female organ
  • Vietnamese: buồng trứng — female organ
  • Welsh: ofari — female organ
  • Welsh: wyfa — female organ
  • Asturian: ovariu — botanical organ
  • Azerbaijani: çağala — botanical organ
  • Azerbaijani: yumurtalıq — botanical organ
  • Catalan: ovari — botanical organ
  • Chinese Mandarin: 子房 (zǐfáng) — botanical organ
  • Czech: semeník — botanical organ
  • Finnish: sikiäin — botanical organ
  • French: ovaire — botanical organ
  • Galician: ovario — botanical organ
  • German: Fruchtknoten — botanical organ
  • German: Ovar — botanical organ
  • German: Ovarium — botanical organ
  • Greek: ωοθήκη (oothíki) — botanical organ
  • Hungarian: magház — botanical organ
  • Italian: ovario — botanical organ
  • Japanese: 子房 (shibō) — botanical organ
  • Latvian: sēklotne — botanical organ
  • Māori: wharekano — botanical organ
  • Polish: zalążnia — botanical organ
  • Portuguese: ovário — botanical organ
  • Romanian: ovar — botanical organ
  • Russian: за́вязь (závjazʹ) — botanical organ
  • Scottish Gaelic: ughlann — botanical organ
  • Scottish Gaelic: ughag — botanical organ
  • Spanish: ovario — botanical organ
  • Swedish: fruktämne — botanical organ
  • Thai: รังไข่ (rang-kài) — botanical organ
  • Welsh: wyfa — botanical organ
  • Welsh: ofari — botanical organ
Real reading context

ovary in complete knowledge articles