gamete
noun
gam·ete ˈga-ˌmēt 
also
gə-ˈmēt : a mature male or female germ cell usually possessing a haploid chromosome set and capable of initiating formation of a new diploid individual by fusion with a gamete of the opposite sex
gametic
gə-ˈme-tik -ˈmē-
adjective -ˈmē- gametically
gə-ˈme-ti-k(ə-)lē
adverb -ˈmē-
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The organization cites parthenogenesis, a process in which the development of a female gamete occurs without fertilization by sperm, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. 
Julia Musto, Fox News, 20 Aug. 2021 The parents who have benefited from the generous gift of gamete donation must remember that there is a human being on the other side of the gift with partners, parents, jobs and children of their own. Caitlin Harrington, Wired, 30 July 2020 Clearly, there are strong mechanisms by which Mendel’s law of segregation (that decrees equal access to gametes by allelic pairs) is enforced. Quanta Magazine, 8 Dec. 2017 Irena discovered a branch of the Institut Marquès in Ireland, a country that permits non-anonymous gamete donation. Anna Louie Sussman, The New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2019 To get around that, another group is working on producing artificial gametes—egg and sperm—from preserved skin tissue from 12 white rhinos. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 24 Aug. 2019 Once a group of adults is conditioned, they are transferred to warmer water and made to release their gametes. Julia Rentsch, baltimoresun.com, 18 Aug. 2019 These stem cells will eventually be converted into gametes, sperm and egg cells. San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 July 2019 The exact identity of the sperm was random, and the egg waited passively until the Michael Phelps of gametes finally arrived. Quanta Magazine, 15 Nov. 2017 See More
Julia Musto, Fox News, 20 Aug. 2021 The parents who have benefited from the generous gift of gamete donation must remember that there is a human being on the other side of the gift with partners, parents, jobs and children of their own. Caitlin Harrington, Wired, 30 July 2020 Clearly, there are strong mechanisms by which Mendel’s law of segregation (that decrees equal access to gametes by allelic pairs) is enforced. Quanta Magazine, 8 Dec. 2017 Irena discovered a branch of the Institut Marquès in Ireland, a country that permits non-anonymous gamete donation. Anna Louie Sussman, The New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2019 To get around that, another group is working on producing artificial gametes—egg and sperm—from preserved skin tissue from 12 white rhinos. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 24 Aug. 2019 Once a group of adults is conditioned, they are transferred to warmer water and made to release their gametes. Julia Rentsch, baltimoresun.com, 18 Aug. 2019 These stem cells will eventually be converted into gametes, sperm and egg cells. San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 July 2019 The exact identity of the sperm was random, and the egg waited passively until the Michael Phelps of gametes finally arrived. Quanta Magazine, 15 Nov. 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
borrowed from German Gamet, borrowed from Greek gamétēs "husband" or gametḗ "wife," from game-, stem of gameîn "to marry" + -tēs, -tē, agent suffixes — more at -gamous
Note: Gamet was introduced by the Polish-German biologist Eduard Strasburger (1844-1912) in an article cowritten with the botanist Anton de Bary, "Acetabularia mediterranea" (Botanische Zeitung, 35. Jahrgang, No. 47, 23. November 1877), pp. 745-56.
First Known Use
1878, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing gamete
Medical Definition
gamete
noun
ga·mete
ˈgam-ˌēt also gə-ˈmēt
: a mature male or female germ cell usually possessing a haploid chromosome set and capable of initiating formation of a new diploid individual by fusion with a gamete of the opposite sex
called also sex cell