gonad Biol.
(ˈgɒnæd, gəʊnæd)
[f. Gr. γονή, γόνος generation, seed, etc. + -ad, after mod.L. gonas, pl. gonades.]
Any organ in an animal (as a testis or an ovary) that produces gametes.
| 1880 Lankester in Nature XXII. 147 Having its genital sacs or gonads placed in the course of the radial canals. 1887 Athenæum 29 Oct. 572/1 Groups..having the nephridia functioning as efferent ducts for the gonads. 1900 J. S. Kingsley Text Bk. Vertebr. Zool. 125 The ovaries are those gonads which are to give rise to the eggs or ova. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. ix. 191 The changes which take place in body and mind at puberty are also under the control of the endocrine system. The immediate control is exerted by the gonad itself. 1957 Richards & Dawes Imms's Textbk. Ent. (ed. 9) i. 193 The hermaphrodite reproductive system is not unlike the usual female condition but the gonad..produces both spermatozoa and eggs. 1957 Times 3 Sept. 9/2 The report of a study group on the effect of radiation on human heredity says that in every exposure the X-ray beam should..be so directed that a minimum of radiation reaches the gonads. 1962 D. J. B. Ashley Human Intersex iii. 34 The gonads, testes and ovaries, are the primary sex organs which house the definitive male and female germ cells which differentiate to form the gametes. 1964 Parker & Haswell Text-bk. Zool. (ed. 7) II. 318 The gonads are of great size in the sexually mature fish. |
Hence gonadal, gonadial (gəʊˈneɪdəl, -dɪəl), gonadic (gəʊˈnædɪk) adjs., of or relating to the gonads; gonaˈdectomy [-ectomy], excision of a gonad; ˈgonaduct (for gonad-duct: cf. quot. 1887 above).
| 1888 Lankester in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 183/1 Nephridia (modified in some as gonaducts). 1902 A. Sedgwick in Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 138/1 Formation..of gonadial sacs. 1914 Geddes & Thomson Sex iv. 88 The gonadial glands of internal secretion. 1925 F. A. E. Crew Animal Genetics 194 The operation of gonadectomy (extirpation of the sex-gland). Ibid. 198 The animals which were merely castrated failed to develop the secondary gonadic characters which they would presumably have shown otherwise. 1934 Webster, Gonadal. 1946 Nature 20 July 95/2 Trichloracetic acid filtrates of serum were prepared during an investigation of the effects of gonadal hormones on the mineral metabolism of the immature pullet. 1963 Lancet 5 Jan. 3/2 There is no evidence in favour of transplants of gonadal tissue rejuvenating the senescent human. |