zygote
Other forms: zygotes
A zygote is a fertilized egg.
The sperm cell (spermatozoon) and the egg (ovum) each have only half the genes of the parent cell — they're haploid cells. When the spermatozoon fertilizes the ovum, the resulting cell has the full complement of genes, so it's a diploid cell. The diploid cell then divides rapidly, becoming first an embryo, then a fetus. The word zygote comes from the Greek word for yoke — joining two things together, like hitching two oxen together to pull a plow.
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(genetics) the diploid cell resulting from the union of a haploid spermatozoon and ovum (including the organism that develops from that cell)synonyms: fertilized ovumtypes:heterozygote(genetics) an organism that has two different forms of a particular gene, resulting in different outcomes in the offspringhomozygote(genetics) an organism having two identical alleles of a particular gene and so breeding true for the particular characteristictype of:cell(biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; they may exist as independent units of life (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals
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Vocabulary lists containing zygote
You can't learn by osmosis, so practice this list of essential terms related to cell biology. You'll master the difference between mitosis and meiosis, study cell structure, and review cellular processes like respiration, division, and photosynthesis.
Dive into the gene pool and review this list of terms related to genetics. You'll learn all about DNA, heredity, chromosomes, and more.
You can't learn by osmosis, so practice this list of essential terms related to cell biology. You'll master the difference between mitosis and meiosis, study cell structure, and review cellular processes like respiration, division, and photosynthesis.