Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The cell formed by the union of two gametes, especially a fertilized ovum before cleavage.
  • noun The organism that develops from a zygote.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as zygospore.
  • noun In biology, a fertilized ovum, or the equivalent, in plants and in unicellular organisms, of a fertilized egg; the product of the conjugation of gametes, or sexual cells.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fertilized egg cell.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (genetics) the diploid cell resulting from the union of a haploid spermatozoon and ovum (including the organism that develops from that cell)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek zugōtos, yoked, from zugoun, to yoke; see yeug- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ζυγωτός (zugōtos, "yoked"), from ζυγός (zugos, "yoke").

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