zygote

Etymology

A learned borrowing made up of Ancient Greek ζῠγωτός (zŭgōtós, "yoked") and English -ote (a suffix meaning "having [the thing to which it is attached]"). Ζῠγωτός (Zŭgōtós) itself derives from ζῠγόω (zŭgóō, "to join or yoke together") plus -τός (-tós, a suffix forming adjectives of possibility); and ζῠγόω (zŭgóō) comes from ζῠγόν (zŭgón, "yoke for joining animals; anything which joins two things together"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yewg- ("to tie together, join, yoke"), plus -όω (-óō, a suffix forming causative or factitive verbs). On the surface, it can also be analysed as zygo- plus -ote.