viviparous

• HYPHEN: vi=vip=ar=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

viviparous, a. [L. viviparus; vivus alive + parere to bear, bring forth. Cf. Viper.].

 Producing young in a living state, as most mammals, or as those plants the offspring of which are produced alive, either by bulbs instead of seeds, or by the seeds themselves germinating on the plant, instead of falling, as they usually do; -- opposed to oviparous.  [1913 Webster]

Viviparous fish. (Zoöl.) See Embiotocoid. -- Viviparous shell (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of operculated fresh-water gastropods belonging to Viviparus, Melantho, and allied genera. Their young, when born, have a well-developed spiral shell.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

viviparous, adj.
1 Zool. bringing forth young alive, not hatching them by means of eggs (cf. OVIPAROUS).
2 Bot. producing bulbs or seeds that germinate while still attached to the parent plant.

Derivative

viviparity n. viviparously adv. viviparousness n.

Etymology

L viviparus f. vivus: see VIVIFY