megagameten.
/ˈmɛɡəˌɡamiːt/, U.S. /ˈmɛɡəˌɡæmit/ Biology.
The larger (usually female) gamete in an organism in which the male and female gametes are unequal in size; a macrogamete.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > gametes
gamete1878
zoogamete1879
planogamete1880
macrogamete1888
microgamete1888
isogamete1891
megagamete1891
oogamete1891
progamete1892
heterogamete1897
ovum1900
non-crossover1914
merogamete1925
hologamete1926
anisogamete-
1891 Nature 17 Sept. 484 The smaller (micro-)gamete is male, the larger (mega-)gamete, female.
1897 T. J. Parker & W. A. Haswell Text-bk. Zool. I. 71 Union always taking place between a large cell or megagamete and a small cell or microgamete.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 487/1 The other gamete is distinguished by its greater bulk, its pronounced sluggishness.., and its tendency to form..reserve nutriment of one kind or another; hence it is termed the macrogamete, or..the megagamete.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) iv. 56 Microgametes and megagametes..will fuse with one another..in an act of fertilization to form what in reality are fertilized eggs or zygotes.
1990 Evolution 44 248/2 An offspring is assumed to have been sired by an individual from another population if the megagamete was fertilized by a microgamete that could not be produced by any individual within the population.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1891