apogamy
|a-po-ga-my|
🇺🇸
/əˈpɑːɡəmi/
🇬🇧
/əˈpɒɡəmi/
reproduction without fertilization
Etymology
'apogamy' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apogamia', where 'apo-' meant 'away, off' and 'gamos' meant 'marriage'.
'apogamy' came into scientific English via New Latin/Modern Latin 'apogamia' (used in 19th-century botanical literature) and was adopted into English as 'apogamy'.
Initially it literally referred to 'absence of marriage' or 'away from marriage', but over time it became specialized to mean 'reproduction without fertilization' in botanical and biological contexts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in botany, the development of an embryo or sporophyte from an unfertilized gametophyte; a form of asexual reproduction in which fertilization does not occur.
Some ferns exhibit apogamy, producing sporophytes without sexual fertilization.
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Noun 2
more broadly or historically, the absence of sexual union or 'marriage' (used in older biological or descriptive contexts).
In older texts the term apogamy was sometimes used to denote reproduction without mating.
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Last updated: 2025/09/19 21:10