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Origin and history of ovi-

ovi-

word-forming element meaning either "of or pertaining to an egg or eggs," from Latin ōvum "egg" (see ovum), or "of or pertaining to sheep," from Latin ovis "sheep" (see ewe).

Entries linking to ovi-

Old English eowu "female sheep," fem. of eow "sheep," from Proto-Germanic *awi, genitive *awjoz (source also of Old Saxon ewi, Old Frisian ei, Middle Dutch ooge, Dutch ooi, Old High German ouwi "sheep," Gothic aweþi "flock of sheep"), from PIE *owi- "sheep" (source also of Sanskrit avih, Greek ois, Latin ovis, Lithuanian avis "sheep," Old Church Slavonic ovica "ewe," Old Irish oi "sheep," Welsh ewig "hind").

"an egg," in a broad biological sense; "the proper product of an ovary," 1706, from Latin ōvum "egg," cognate with Greek ōon, Old Norse egg, Old English æg, from PIE *ōwyo‑, *ōyyo‑ "egg," which is perhaps a derivative of the root *awi- "bird." The proper plural is ova.

1812, "egg-eating;" 1865, "sheep-eating;" see ovi- + -vorous.

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