Meaning

noun (genetics) the diploid cell resulting from the union of a haploid spermatozoon and ovum (including the organism that develops from that cell)

originLearned borrowing from Ancient Greek ζῠγωτός (zŭgōtós, “yoked”) + English -ote (suffix meaning ‘having [the thing to which it is attached]’). Ζῠγωτός (Zŭgōtós) is derived from ζῠγόω (zŭgóō, “to join or yoke together”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives of possibility); and ζῠγόω (zŭgóō) from ζῠγόν (zŭgón, “yoke for joining animals; anything which joins two things together”) (ultimately from…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0