Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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; 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 o["o]spore. In Zo["o]l., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.