embryo

1 of 2

noun

em·​bryo ˈem-brē-ˌō How to pronounce embryo (audio)
plural embryos
1
a
: an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems
especially : the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception
b
archaic : a vertebrate at any stage of development prior to birth or hatching
2
: the young sporophyte of a seed plant usually comprising a rudimentary plant with plumule, radicle, and cotyledons
3
a
: something as yet undeveloped
b
: a beginning or undeveloped state of something
productions seen in embryo during their out-of-town tryout periodHenry Hewes

embryo-

2 of 2

combining form

: embryo
embryogeny

Examples of embryo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Noun
Georgia bans abortions when cardiac activity has been detected in an embryo, which is usually around six weeks. Erin Doherty, Axios, 16 Oct. 2024 Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are the legal equivalent of children. Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 16 Oct. 2024 With the funding, the company plans to, for example, rewrite elephant DNA with mammoth genes to create a mammoth-like embryo, and the company’s goal has expanded to editing and re-writing DNA to restore or preserve several extinct animals like the dodo bird or Tasmanian tiger. Stephen Pastis, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024 There will be no blood vessels, so there's no embryo. Katie Hafner, Scientific American, 26 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for embryo 

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English embrioun "embryo, fetus," borrowed from Medieval Latin embrion-, embrio, embryo, borrowed from Greek émbryon "newborn creature (in reference to a lamb), young, embryo or fetus," from em- em- + -bryon, derivative of bry-, stem of brýein "to swell with an abundance of growth, bloom, abound," of obscure origin

Note: In Medieval Latin the Greek neuter noun émbryon was reanalyzed as the base of Latin nasal stems (such as sermōn-, sermō "speech"), resulting in the nominative singular form embryo, which was borrowed into English. The stem embryon- was employed in New Latin derivatives, the sources of embryonal and embryonic. Compare bryo-.

Combining form

Late Latin, from Greek, from embryon

First Known Use

Noun

1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Time Traveler
The first known use of embryo was in 1548

Dictionary Entries Near embryo

Cite this Entry

“Embryo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embryo. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

embryo

noun
em·​bryo ˈem-brē-ˌō How to pronounce embryo (audio)
plural embryos
1
: an animal in the early stages of development that are marked by cleavage, the laying down of the basic tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems compare fetus
2
: a tiny young plant within a seed
3
: a beginning or undeveloped stage
used especially in the phrase in embryo

Medical Definition

embryo

noun
em·​bryo ˈem-brē-ˌō How to pronounce embryo (audio)
plural embryos
1
archaic : a vertebrate at any stage of development prior to birth or hatching
2
: an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems
especially : the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception compare fetus

More from Merriam-Webster on embryo

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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