sperm

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spɜːm/ (UK); /spɜɹm/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sperme, probably borrowed from Old French esperme and directly Late Latin sperma (“seed, semen”),^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed”), from σπείρω (speírō, “to sow, scatter”),^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to spread, sow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Semen: about 1375, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in Barnhart, about 1386 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively, the seed of plants and other things is from 1610,^[6] the eggs of insects from 1615, and offspring from 1641.^[6] A single male reproductive cell is first recorded in 1904.^[2][6] Sperm cell is attested by 1851 and sperm bank by 1963.^[3] Spermatic is from 1392.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – sperme, semen.^[2]
• 1392 – spermatic.^[2]
• 1851 – sperm cell.^[3]
• 1904 – a spermatozoon.^[2][6]
• 1963 – sperm bank.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A male reproductive cell; a spermatozoon.
2. Semen.

Word family

• spermous
• angiosperm
• endosperm
• polyspermia
• spermic
• gymnosperm
• gymnospermous
• monospermy

Related words

• spermaceti
• spermatozoon
• spore
• sporadic
• sparse

Usage notes

A different sperm, short for spermaceti, is from 1839, as is the sperm whale, so called because the waxy substance in its head was wrongly identified with sperm.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press