Ovogenesis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which female gametes, or egg cells, are produced and developed within the ovaries involving cellular differentiation and maturation
2. A biological sequence in female organisms where immature egg cells undergo growth and division to form mature ova capable of fertilization
3. The series of developmental stages in which oocytes transform through meiosis and cytoplasmic changes to become fully functional reproductive cells in females

Etymology: The word is "oogenesis," and its parts are plain Latin and Greek. "Ovo-" comes from Latin "ovum," meaning "egg," and "-genesis" comes from Greek "genesis," meaning "origin" or "coming into being." Together they name the process by which an egg cell forms and matures. Each part keeps its ordinary sense. The same Greek "genesis" appears in "Genesis," the first book of the Bible, and in words like "biogenesis" and "photogenesis," where a prefix names what is produced. Here the prefix names the egg, so the compound describes the making of eggs in a female body. The term is a modern scientific coinage built from classical roots, not a word the ancient Greeks or Romans used for the process. Its meaning covers the whole sequence in which an immature egg cell divides through meiosis and undergoes cytoplasmic changes until it becomes a fully functional reproductive cell.

Synonyms: oogenesis, egg formation