Meanings
- not comparableDepositing eggs that develop and hatch outside the body as a reproductive strategy.
The echidna is a monotreme, which is the extremely small subset of oviparous mammals.
2 more examples
And though it might be thought that all animals who have lungs do cough; yet in cataceous fishes, who have large and strong lungs, the same is not observed; nor yet in oviparous quadrupeds: and in the greatest thereof, the crocodile, although we read much of their tears, we find nothing of that motion.
1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a FriendUntil fairly recently, no female Somniosus had been observed to be carrying embryos, so it was assumed that this was an oviparous species.
1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 138Synonyms: egglaying
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveDepositing eggs that develop and hatch outside the body as a reproductive strategy.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Adapted borrowing of Late Latin ōviparus + -ous. By surface analysis, ovi- + -parous.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ᾠότοκος
- ᾠότοκος (ōiótokos)egg laying
Bengali অণ্ডজ
- অণ্ডজ (oṇḍojo)egg laying
Catalan ovípar
- ovíparegg laying
Chinese Mandarin 卵生
- 卵生 (luǎnshēng)egg laying
Czech vejcorodý
- vejcorodýegg laying
Dutch eierleggend, ovipaar
- eierleggendegg laying
- ovipaaregg laying
Finnish muniva, ovipaarinen
- munivaegg laying
- ovipaarinenegg laying
French ovipare
- ovipareegg laying
German ovipar, eierlegend
- oviparegg laying
- eierlegendegg laying
Greek ωοτόκος
- ωοτόκος (ootókos)egg laying
Hungarian tojásrakó
- tojásrakóegg laying
Irish ubh-bhreitheach
- ubh-bhreitheachegg laying
Italian oviparo
- oviparoegg laying
Japanese 卵生の
- 卵生の (ransei no)egg laying
Latin oviparus
- oviparusegg laying
Malay oviparus
- oviparusegg laying
Māori hua-pao-waho
- hua-pao-wahoegg laying
Polish jajorodny
- jajorodnyegg laying
Russian яйцекладу́щий, яйцено́сный
- яйцекладу́щий (jajcekladúščij)egg laying
- яйцено́сный (jajcenósnyj)egg laying
Spanish ovíparo
- ovíparoegg laying
Swedish ovipar
- oviparegg laying
Welsh dodwyol
- dodwyolegg laying
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
oviparous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oviparous
“oviparous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oviparous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oviparous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oviparous.
Source: oviparous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.