Gamete

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gamete \Gam"ete\ (g[a^]m"[=e]t; g[.a]*m[=e]t"; the latter
     usually in compounds), n. [Gr. gameth` wife, or game`ths
     husband, fr. gamei^n to marry.] (Biol.)
     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 oospore. In Zool., 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.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  gamete
       n : a mature sexual reproductive cell having a single set of
           unpaired chromosomes