ovum
o·vum/ˈoʊ̯.vəm/noun
ovum is spelled O-V-U-M: 4 letters and 2 syllables (o·vum). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ovum means “The female gamete in animals; the egg cell” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ovum is ova.
How many letters and syllables are in ovum?
| Letters | 4: O-V-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: o·vum |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ovum?
Ovum appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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).
How do you pronounce ovum?
- UK /ˈəʊ̯.vəm/
- US /ˈoʊ̯.vəm/
- Australia /ˈɐʉ̯.vəm/
Ovum has 2 syllables, split o·vum in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Rho9998-ovum.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ovum
- ova plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ovum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The female gamete in animals; the egg cell.
Coordinate term: spermatozoon
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ovum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense gamete:
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 ovum come from?
Borrowed from Latin ōvum (“egg”). Doublet of egg, ey, huevo, and oeuf.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).