Egg cell
Female reproductive cell in most anisogamous organisms / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The egg cell, or ovum (PL: ova), is the female reproductive cell, or gamete,[1] in most anisogamous organisms (organisms that reproduce sexually with a larger, female gamete and a smaller, male one). The term is used when the female gamete is not capable of movement (non-motile). If the male gamete (sperm) is capable of movement, the type of sexual reproduction is also classified as oogamous. A nonmotile female gamete formed in the oogonium of some algae, fungi, oomycetes, or bryophytes is an oosphere.[2] When fertilized the oosphere becomes the oospore.[clarification needed]
Egg cell | |
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![]() A human egg cell with surrounding corona radiata | |
Details | |
Identifiers | |
Latin | Ovum |
Greek | Ωάριο (oário) |
MeSH | D010063 |
FMA | 67343 |
Anatomical terminology |

When egg and sperm fuse during fertilisation, a diploid cell (the zygote) is formed, which rapidly grows into a new organism.