unfertilised

Thân thiện

A single unfertilised egg sits in a bird's nest.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Not having been fertilized: Describes a cell, especially an egg or ovum, that has not united with a male gamete (like a sperm) to initiate the development of a new organism.

Usage

• The adjective unfertilised is used to describe biological cells, primarily eggs, that have not undergone fertilization.
• It is often used in scientific, agricultural, and general biological contexts.
• Note on Spelling: The spelling unfertilized (with a 'z') is more common in American English, while unfertilised (with an 's') is typical in British English.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The hen laid an unfertilised egg, so it will not develop into a chick.
  • In vitro, scientists observed both fertilized and unfertilised ova.
  • These seeds came from an unfertilised flower.

Advanced Usage

• Technical/Biological Context: The term is precise and used to describe the state of an egg cell prior to the fusion of nuclei.
  • The study compared the protein levels in unfertilised versus fertilized embryos.

Variants and Related Words

• Unfertilized (adj): The American English spelling of unfertilised.
• Fertilised/Fertilized (adj): The antonym; having been fertilized.
• Infertile (adj): Incapable of producing offspring; sometimes confused with unfertilised, but "infertile" describes a general inability, while "unfertilised" describes a specific, current state of a particular cell.

Synonyms

• Unimpregnated: (Formal) Not fertilized.
• Non-fertilized: A less common variant with the same meaning.

Antonyms

• Fertilised/Fertilized
• Impregnated

Học thuật

Adjective

1. not having been fertilized
   • an unfertilized egg

Từ đồng nghĩa

• unfertilized
• unimpregnated