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