embryo
/ˈɛmbɹi.oʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.34 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
In the reproductive cycle, the stage after the fertilization of the egg that precedes the development into a fetus.
noun
An organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.
noun
In a human, usually the cell growth of the child within the mother's body, through the end of the seventh week of pregnancy.
noun
A rudimentary plant contained in the seed.
Example Sentences
- "SE onset depends on a complex network of interactions among plant growth regulators, mainly auxins and cytokinins, during the proembryogenic early stages, and ethylene and gibberellic and abscisic acids later in the development of somatic embryos."
- "In situ hybridisations were performed on devitellinised embryos still wrapped around the yolk and on embryos with the yolk dissected away."
- "Though scientists do not know how stress affects gestation, Fukuda theorizes that the vulnerability of Y-bearing sperm cells, male embryos and/or male fetuses to stress is why “subtle significant changes in sex ratios” occur."
- "They include cells that would typically go on to develop a yolk sac, a placenta and the embryo itself."
- "[…]while the Company little ſuſpected what a noble Work I had then in Embryo […]"
- "it dives into the heart of the observed, and there espies evil, as it were, in the first embryo […]"
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin embryō, from Ancient Greek ἔμβρυον (émbruon, “fetus”), from ἐν (en, “in-”) + βρύω (brúō, “to grow, swell”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: embryō, ἔμβρυον
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɛmbɹi.oʊ/
- British English: /ˈɛmbɹi.əʊ/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Biology.
Inflected Forms
embryos (plural)
embryones (plural)
embrio (alternative)
embryones (alternative)
embrio’s (alternative)
embrioes (alternative)
embryos (alternative)
embrioun (alternative)
embrion (alternative)
embryon (alternative)
embrions (alternative)
embryons (alternative)