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sperm
1[ spurm ]
sperm
2[ spurm ]
noun
sperm-
3- variant of spermo- before a vowel:
spermine.
-sperm
4- a combining form with the meaning “one having seeds†of the kind specified by the initial element:
gymnosperm.
-sperm
1combining form
- (in botany) a seed
gymnosperm
sperm
2/ ²õ±èɜ˳¾ /
noun
- another name for semen
- a male reproductive cell; male gamete
sperm
3/ ²õ±èɜ˳¾ /
noun
sperm
/ ²õ±èû°ù³¾ /
- The smaller, usually motile male reproductive cell of most organisms that reproduce sexually. Sperm cells are haploid (they have half the number of chromosomes as the other cells in the organism's body). Sperm often have at least one flagellum. During fertilization, the nucleus of a sperm fuses with the nucleus of the much larger egg cell (the female reproductive cell) to form a new organism. In male animals, sperm are normally produced by the testes in extremely large numbers in order to increase the chances of fertilizing an egg. Motile sperm cells produced by some multicellular protist groups (such as the algae), the bryophyte plants, and the seedless vascular plants, require water to swim to the egg cell. In gymnosperms and angiosperms, sperm do not need water for mobility but are carried to the female reproductive organs in the pollen grain. In the cycads and the gingko (both gymnosperms), the sperm are motile and propel themselves down the pollen tube to reach the egg cell. In the conifers and angiosperms, the sperm are not themselves motile but are conveyed to the ovule by the growing pollen tube.
sperm
- The male sex cell , typically consisting of a head, midpiece, and tail. ( See fertilization .)
Notes
Derived Forms
- -spermous, combining_form:in_adjective
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of sperm1
Origin of sperm2
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of sperm1
A Closer Look
Example Sentences
A sperm whale which died on Monday after washing up on the island of Raasay had been entangled in ropes.
A sperm whale that died after stranding on the Isle of Harris in November 2019 had a 100kg "litter ball" in its stomach.
IVF is a procedure during which a woman's eggs are fertilised by a man's sperm in a laboratory before the embryos are implanted into a woman's uterus.
A sperm donor who claims to have fathered more than 180 children has been used by a judge to warn of the dangers of unregulated sperm donation.
Chromosomal sex is determined at the moment of fertilization — a term often conflated with conception — the specific moment when a sperm and egg join together.
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