spermism
|sperm-iz-əm|
🇺🇸
/ˈspɝːmɪzəm/
🇬🇧
/ˈspɜː(r)mɪzəm/
belief in sperm as seed/sole agent
Etymology
'spermism' originates from Greek via New Latin and English: 'sperm-' from Greek 'sperma' meaning 'seed', plus the suffix '-ism' indicating a doctrine or belief.
'sperma' (Greek) gave rise to the Neo-Latin/modern English root 'sperm-' (as in 'spermato-','sperm'), and the English noun 'spermism' was formed by adding the suffix '-ism' to denote a doctrine; the term appears in discussions of biological theory from the 17th–19th centuries.
Initially, it referred specifically to the preformationist doctrine that the embryo is contained in the sperm; over time it has also been used more broadly to criticize or describe beliefs that attribute primary biological agency or heredity solely to the male contribution.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a historical doctrine of preformation which holds that the embryo is preformed in the sperm (the male reproductive cell).
In 18th-century debates about development, spermism was often contrasted with ovism.
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Noun 2
the belief or theory that sperm (or the male contribution) is the sole or dominant determinant of heredity or conception.
Modern genetics rejects simplistic spermism as both parents contribute genetic material.
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Last updated: 2025/09/12 05:10