Embryo

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈɛmbɹiəʊ/

Alternative forms

• alpha forms ({{3}}) embrio Middle English to the 18th century, embryo 17th century to the present singular forms; embryones 17th century to the present, embrio's 17th–18th centuries, embrioes 17th century, embryos 19th century to the present plural forms
• beta forms ({{3}}) embrioun Middle English, embrion Middle English to the 18th century, embryon 17th–19th centuries singular forms; embrions 17th C., embryons 17th–19th centuries plural forms
• gamma forms ({{3}}) embryon 17th century to the present singular form; embryons 17th century to the present, embrya 18th century to the present plural forms

Origin

A Medieval Latin corruption of Ancient Greek ἔμβρυον (embruon, "fetus"), from ἐν (en-, "in-") + βρύω (bruō, "I grow, swell").

Full definition of embryo

Noun

1. In the reproductive cycle, the stage after the fertilization of the egg that precedes the development into a fetus.
2. An organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.
3. In viviparous animals, the young animal's earliest stages in the mother's body
4. In humans, usually the cell growth up to the end of the seventh week in the mother's body
5. (botany) A rudimentary plant contained in the seed.
6. The beginning; the first stage of anything.
• Jonathan SwiftThe company little suspected what a noble work I had then in embryo.
• 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 419:it dives into the heart of the observed, and there espies evil, as it were, in the first embryo ...

Derived terms

• embryology
• embryonic

Related terms

• fetus, foetus
• zygote

Anagrams

• merboy