Gametangia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A reproductive structure in certain plants and fungi that produces gametes
2. a cellular formation in bryophytes that plays a key role in sexual reproduction
3. an organ where male or female gametes are produced in specific organisms

Etymology: "Gametangia" is the plural of "gametangium", and the singular is the piece to understand first. It is built from the Greek "gamete", meaning a "wife" or "husband" in the sense of a mate, from "gamos", marriage, with the suffix "-angium" added. In modern biology "gamete" names a reproductive cell that fuses with another to form a new organism, and "gametangium" names the structure within which such cells are produced. The suffix is the key to the rest. "-angium" comes from the Greek "angeion", a vessel or container, so a gametangium is literally a gamete-vessel, a case or chamber holding the cells. Botanists and mycologists use the term for the organs in algae, fungi and other simple plants where gametes develop, and the plural simply follows the Latin-style pattern of "-ium" becoming "-ia".