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