Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Gonad
/ˈɡoʊnæd/noun
An organ that makes reproductive cells, either an ovary or a testis.
The Greek roots
γονή
gonḗ
seed, offspring
Literally: “seed-organ”
Follow a root:γονή3 words
The story of the word
Nineteenth-century zoologists needed one word covering ovary and testis, since in many animals the organ is the same until it differentiates, and built gonas from γονή, seed. The root goes back to the verb for being born and is the same family as γένος, so gene, genesis and gonad are cousins. Gonorrhoea is the plainest relative: Galen's name for the disease means a flowing of seed, which was a misreading of the discharge.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
gonorrhoeagenesisgonocyte
In a sentence
In many fish the gonad changes function partway through life.