Standard Lemma guide

ovum

noun · 2 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

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  • ō′vəm
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈəʊ̯.vəm/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈoʊ̯.vəm/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈɐʉ̯.vəm/
  • Australian, New-Zealand, also: /ˈəʉ̯.vəm/
  • Scotland: /ˈo.vəm/
  • Scotland: /ˈo.vʌm/
  • India: /ˈoː.vum/
  • rhymes with -əʊvəm
  • CMU ARPABET: OW1 V AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The female gamete in animals; the egg cell.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, cytology, embryology, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • Coordinate term: spermatozoon

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: egg cell, egg, megagamete

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gamete

2

noun

Meaning 2

the female reproductive cell; the female gamete

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: egg cell

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gamete

Narrower terms: egg, ootid, ovule

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

118 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: eiersel — gamete
  • Albanian: vezë — gamete
  • Albanian: ovum — gamete
  • Arabic: بُيَيْضَة (buyayḍa) — gamete
  • Arabic: بُوَيْضَة (buwayḍa) — gamete
  • Arabic: بويضة (buwayḍa) — gamete
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܹܥܬܵܐ (beʿta) — gamete
  • Armenian: ձվաբջիջ (jvabǰiǰ) — gamete
  • Azerbaijani: yumurta — gamete
  • Basque: obulu — gamete
  • Belarusian: яйцакле́тка (jajcakljétka) — gamete
  • Bengali: ডিম্বাণু (ḍimbanu) — gamete
  • Bulgarian: яйцекле́тка (jajceklétka) — gamete
  • Burmese: သားဥ (sa:u.) — gamete
  • Burmese: မမျိုးဥ (ma.myui:u.) — gamete
  • Catalan: òvul — gamete
  • Chinese Cantonese: 卵 — gamete
  • Hakka Chinese: 卵 (lón) — gamete
  • Chinese: 卵 (zh-min-nan) — gamete
  • Chinese Mandarin: 卵 (luǎn) — gamete
  • Chinese Mandarin: 卵子 (luǎnzǐ) — gamete
  • Cornish: oy — gamete
  • Czech: vajíčko — gamete
  • Danish: æg — gamete
  • Danish: ægcelle — gamete
  • Dutch: eicel — gamete
  • Estonian: munarakk — gamete
  • Faroese: egg — gamete
  • Finnish: munasolu — gamete
  • French: ovule — gamete
  • West-Frisian: aai — gamete
  • Georgian: კვერცხუჯრედი (ḳvercxuǯredi) — gamete
  • German: Ovum — gamete
  • German: Eizelle — gamete
  • Greek: αβγό (avgó) — gamete
  • Greek: ωάριο (oário) — gamete
  • Greenlandic: mannik — gamete
  • Hawaiian: hua — gamete
  • Hebrew: בֵּיצִית (beitsít) — gamete
  • Hiligaynon: itlog — gamete
  • Hindi: डिम्ब (ḍimb) — gamete
  • Hungarian: pete — gamete
  • Hungarian: petesejt — gamete
  • Icelandic: egg — gamete
  • Icelandic: eggfruma — gamete
  • Ido: ovo — gamete
  • Indonesian: ovum — gamete
  • Irish: ubh — gamete
  • Irish: ubhán — gamete
  • Italian: ovulo — gamete
  • Japanese: 卵 (ran) — gamete
  • Japanese: 卵子 (ranshi) — gamete
  • Kaurna: muka — gamete
  • Kazakh: аналық жасуша (analyq jasuşa) — gamete
  • Kazakh: ұрық жасуша (ūryq jasuşa) — gamete
  • Khmer: ស៊ុត (sut) — gamete
  • Korean: 난자 (nanja) — gamete
  • Korean: 란자 (ranja) — gamete
  • Northern Kurdish: hêkexane — gamete
  • Northern Kurdish: xaneya hêkê — gamete
  • Kyrgyz: урук клеткасы (uruk kletkası) — gamete
  • Kyrgyz: энелик клетка (enelik kletka) — gamete
  • Lao: ໄຂ່ (khai) — gamete
  • Lao: ຈຸລັງໄຂ່ (chu lang khai) — gamete
  • Latin: ovum — gamete
  • Latvian: olšūna — gamete
  • Lithuanian: kiaušialąstė — gamete
  • Lithuanian: kiaušinėlis — gamete
  • Luxembourgish: Eezell — gamete
  • Macedonian: јајце клетка (jajce kletka) — gamete
  • Malay: ovum — gamete
  • Malay: اوۏوم — gamete
  • Malayalam: അണ്ഡം (aṇḍaṁ) — gamete
  • Marathi: अंड (aṇḍa) — gamete
  • Marathi: अंडकोश (aṇḍkoś) — gamete
  • Mongolian: өндгөн эс (öndgön es) — gamete
  • Mongolian: өндөг (öndög) — gamete
  • Norwegian Bokmål: egg — gamete
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eggcelle — gamete
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: egg — gamete
  • Iranian Persian: تُخْمَک (toxmak) — gamete
  • Polish: jajo — gamete
  • Polish: jajeczko — gamete
  • Polish: komórka jajowa — gamete
  • Portuguese: óvulo — gamete
  • Romanian: ovul — gamete
  • Russian: яйцекле́тка (jajceklétka) — gamete
  • Scottish Gaelic: ugh — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: јајашце — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: јајна ћелија — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: јајна станица — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: jajašce — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: jajna ćelija — gamete
  • Serbo-Croatian: jajna stanica — gamete
  • Slovak: vajcová bunka — gamete
  • Slovak: vajíčko — gamete
  • Slovene: jajčece — gamete
  • Spanish: óvulo — gamete
  • Swahili: yai — gamete
  • Swedish: ägg — gamete
  • Swedish: äggcell — gamete
  • Tagalog: itlog — gamete
  • Tajik: тухмҳуҷайра (tuxmhujayra) — gamete
  • Tamil: முட்டை (muṭṭai) — gamete
  • Tatar: күкәй күзәнәк (kükäy küzänäk) — gamete
  • Thai: เซลล์ไข่ (seel-kài) — gamete
  • Turkish: ovum — gamete
  • Turkish: yumurta — gamete
  • Turkish: yumurta hücresi — gamete
  • Turkmen: ýumurtga — gamete
  • Ukrainian: яйцекліти́на (jajceklitýna) — gamete
  • Urdu: اَنْڈا (anḍā) — gamete
  • Uyghur: تۇخۇم (tuxum) — gamete
  • Uzbek: tuxumhujayra — gamete
  • Uzbek: tuxum — gamete
  • Vietnamese: noãn — gamete
  • Vietnamese: trứng — gamete
  • Zazaki: akk — gamete