-gamy Also -gamous and -gamic.
Marriage, fertilization or reproduction.
[Greek gamos, marriage.]
Some common words in -gamy refer to human marriage customs, such as monogamy or bigamy. Others are terms from zoology or biology that relate to reproduction. For more examples, The endings -gamous and -gamic form related adjectives (monogamous, cryptogamic).
Examples of words in -gamy
Word origins are from Greek unless otherwise stated.
Relating to human marriage customs:
| bigamy | illegal marriage to more than one person at a time | Latin bi-, twice |
| endogamy | marriage only within one clan or tribe | endon, within |
| exogamy | the custom of marrying only outside one's clan or tribe | exō, outside |
| monogamy | marriage to only one person at a time | monos, alone |
| polygamy | marriage to more than one person at a time | polloi, many |
Relating to reproduction in plants or animals:
| autogamy | self-pollination | autos, self |
| cryptogamy | having no flowers but reproducing by spores | kruptos, hidden |
| homogamy | simultaneous maturation of the stamens and pistils of a flower, the opposite of dichogamy; inbreeding, especially as the result of isolation | homos, same; see previous section |
| karyogamy | the fusion of the nuclei of cells | karuon, kernel |
| plasmogamy | fusion of the cytoplasm of two or more cells | plasma, a thing moulded |
| syngamy | the fusion of two cells in reproduction | sun, with |
| xenogamy | fertilization of a flower by pollen from another, non-identical, plant | xenos, stranger or foreigner |
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