gamete

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: gam=ete

CIDE DICTIONARY

gamete, n. [Gr. gameth` wife, or game`ths husband, fr. gamei^n to marry.].

 A sexual cell or germ cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomes; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an oöspore. In Zoöl., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

gamete, n. Biol. a mature germ cell able to unite with another in sexual reproduction.

Derivative

gametic adj.

Etymology

mod.L gameta f. Gk gamete wife f. gamos marriage

ROGET THESAURUS

gamete

Organization

N organization, organized world, organized nature, living nature, animated nature, living beings, organic remains, fossils, protoplasm, cytoplasm, protein, albumen, structure, organization, organism, biology, natural history, organic chemistry, anatomy, physiology, zoology, botany, microbiology, virology, bacteriology, mycology, naturalist, archegenesis, antherozoid, bioplasm, biotaxy, chromosome, dysmeromorph, ecology, oecology, erythroblast, gametangium, gamete, germinal matter, invagination, isogamy, oogamy, karyaster, macrogamete, microgamete, metabolism, anabolism, catabolism, metaplasm, ontogeny, ovary, ovum, oxidation, phylogeny, polymorphism, protozoa, spermary, spermatozoon, trophoplasm, vacuole, vertebration, zoogloea, zygote, Darwinism, neo-Darwinism, Lamarkism, neoLamarkism, Weismannism, morphology, taxonomy, organic, organized, karyoplasmic, unsegmentic, vacuolar, zoogloeic, zoogloeoid.