embryo

/ˌɛmbriˈoʊ/

/ˈɛmbriəʊ/

Other forms: embryos

An embryo is an animal in the phase after fertilization but before birth or hatching. Embryos still live in the womb or egg.

Do you remember when you were an embryo? Probably not, because you were just a tiny clump of cells in your mother's womb — you weren't born yet. All animals were embryos at one point: it's a very early stage of life. Another meaning is not as literal: the beginning of an idea could be called an embryo, as in, "My plan for ice-skating robots is still in the embryo stage." That means the idea isn't very developed.

Definitions of embryo

1. noun

   an animal organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation that in higher forms merge into fetal stages but in lower forms terminate in commencement of larval life
   synonyms: conceptus, fertilized egg

   types:

   blastosphere, blastula

   early stage of an embryo produced by cleavage of an ovum; a liquid-filled sphere whose wall is composed of a single layer of cells; during this stage (about eight days after fertilization) implantation in the wall of the uterus occurs

   gastrula

   double-walled stage of the embryo resulting from invagination of the blastula; the outer layer of cells is the ectoderm and the inner layer differentiates into the mesoderm and endoderm

   morula

   a solid mass of blastomeres that forms when the zygote splits; develops into the blastula

   blastocyst, blastodermic vessicle

   the blastula of a placental mammal in which some differentiation of cells has occurred

   type of:

   animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna

   a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
2. noun

   (botany) a minute rudimentary plant contained within a seed or an archegonium
   type of:

   flora, plant, plant life

   (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion