How Do You Spell OVISTS?

Pronunciation: [ˈə͡ʊvɪsts] (IPA)

The word "Ovists" is used to refer to the belief that the female egg contains a fully-formed miniature individual, rather than being a mere receptacle for the male sperm. In terms of spelling, the IPA phonetic transcription would be /ˈoʊvɪsts/ - with the stress on the first syllable, and the "o" pronounced like "oh". The "v" sound is a voiced labiodental fricative, and the final "sts" is pronounced with an unvoiced "s" followed by a voiced "t" sound.

Meaning and Definition
Common Misspellings
Etymology
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OVISTS Meaning and Definition

  1. Ovists were a group of early embryologists who proposed the theory of preformationism, which was prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries. The term "ovist" refers to the adherents of this theory, which posits that all organisms, including humans, are preformed and present in miniature form within the egg or the female reproductive cells called ova.

    According to the ovists, every individual's existence begins with a preformed miniature being, known as a homunculus, already present in the female egg or ovum. They believed that the male's contribution, whether it be sperm or some other substance, merely served as a stimulus to activate the growth and development of the preexisting homunculus. In this theory, fertilization was seen as triggering the growth of the already-formed individual rather than the formation of a new being.

    Ovists believed that this preformation occurred in a linear and unbroken chain, suggesting that the traits and characteristics of both the mother and father were already predetermined within the ovum. They proposed that heredity was purely determined by the traits and characteristics of the parental homunculi.

    Although the ovist theory gained considerable popularity during its time, it was later discredited by the emergence of cell theory and the discovery of the process of fertilization. The understanding that embryos are not preformed individuals, but instead develop from a single cell through the process of cell division and differentiation, refuted the notion of ovist preformation.

Common Misspellings for OVISTS

Etymology of OVISTS

The term Ovists derives from the Latin word ovum, meaning egg. It is derived from the belief held by some scientists and philosophers in the 17th and 18th centuries that the embryo existed in the form of a preformed miniature organism within the egg cell or ovum. According to the incorrect theory of preformation, the embryo was believed to be already fully formed and just needed to grow in size. This idea of preformation was widespread, and those who subscribed to the theory were referred to as Ovists.