Webster's English Dictionary

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embryo

em.bryo \'em-bre--.o-\ n [ML embryon-, embryo, fr. Gk embryon, fr. en- + 
   brye] often attrib in to swell; akin to Gk bryon moss archaic  1a: a 
   vertebrate at any stage of development prior to birth or hatching  1b: an 
   animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are ch 
   aracterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the 
   formation of primitive organs and organ systems; esp : the developing human 
   individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week 
   after conception 2: the young sporophyte of a seed plant usu. comprising a 
   rudimentary plant  with plumule, radicle, and cotyledons 3a: something as 
   yet undeveloped  3b: a beginning or undeveloped state of something - used 
   esp. in the phra se in embryo