spermatozoan
- noun
- /ˌspɜrməˈtoʊzoʊən/
- Specialized
:
espermatozoide
- During reproduction, the spermatozoan plays a crucial role in fertilizing the female gamete.
Examples
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The scientist observed a spermatozoan swimming towards the egg cell in a drop of culture fluid.
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You take a donkey and then you take the spermatozoa of a zebra.
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Red blood cells, spermatozoa and neurons, each of which carry different, each of which carry different functions.
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Under the microscope, the researcher examined the structure of a spermatozoan and noted its motility.
Synonyms
253
3.2
A male sex cell that joins a female egg to make a baby
3
3.5
A male cell that joins a female egg to make a baby
1
9.6
A male sex cell that swims to fertilize an egg
A moving male cell in plants like ferns that fertilizes eggs
A moving male sex cell in plants like ferns and algae that swims to the egg
Surface Forms
Morphology
spermatozoan = spermatozoon (semi-transparent) = spermato + zoon + an
The change from 'spermatozoon' to 'spermatozoan' is a regular adjectival/noun-forming suffixation (-an), but the elements are technical combining forms and may not be fully obvious to a general B1 learner.
Etymology
The word spermatozoan comes from Greek roots spermato- meaning 'seed' and zoon meaning 'animal', the same 'zoo' you see in zoology. So a spermatozoan is like a tiny 'seed-animal', a moving male 'seed' cell that can swim to fertilize an egg.