embryo词源

英文词源

embryo

embryo: [16] The idea underlying embryo is of ‘growing within’. The word comes from Greek émbruon, a compound verb formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and the verb brúein ‘swell, grow’, which meant literally ‘something that grows inside the body’. English acquired it via late Latin embryo.

embryo (n.)

"fetus in utero at an early stage of development," mid-14c., from Medieval Latin embryo, properly embryon, from Greek embryon "a young one," in Homer, "young animal," later, "fruit of the womb," literally "that which grows," from assimilated form of en "in" (see en- (2)) + bryein "to swell, be full."