Pl. -zoa. [f. SPERMATO- + Gr. ζᾠόν living thing, animal.] One of the numerous minute and active filaments present in the seminal fluid, by which the fecundation of the ovum is effected.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 113/1. The Spermatozoa have been detected … in the different classes of the Articulate Animals.
1844. G. Bird, Urin. Deposits (1857), 376. Mixed with these are generally found round granular bodies, rather larger than the body of a spermatozoon.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 245. The special secretion of the testis consists of certain spermatic filaments or SPERMATOZOA.
