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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