ovoviviparous
/ˌoʊvoʊvɪˈvɪpəɹəs/adjective
ovoviviparous is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to such kind of animals such as some reptiles whose eggs hatch inside their body” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled O-V-O-V-I-V-I-P-A-R-O-U-S and has 6 syllables, and it appears about once in every 68 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does ovoviviparous mean?
adjective
- 1
Of or pertaining to such kind of animals such as some reptiles whose eggs hatch inside their body.
The anaconda is an ovoviviparous reptile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce ovoviviparous?
- UK /ˌəʊvəʊvɪˈvɪpəɹəs/
- US /ˌoʊvoʊvɪˈvɪpəɹəs/
Ovoviviparous has 6 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is ovoviviparous?
Ovoviviparous appears about once in every 68 million words in written English, the 258,950th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Ovoviviparous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pertaining to animals whose eggs hatch inside their body:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ovovivipare |
| German | ovovivipar |
| Portuguese | ovovivíparo |
| Spanish | ovovivíparo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ovoviviparous come from?
From ovo- +, from Latin ōvum (“egg”) + -o-, + viviparous, from Latin vīviparus, from vīvus (“alive, life, living”) + pariō (“give birth, produce, bring forth”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).