Meaning

• In the reproductive cycle, the stage after the fertilization of the egg that precedes the development into a fetus.

• An organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.

• In viviparous animals, the young animal's earliest stages in the mother's body

• In humans, usually the cell growth up to the end of the seventh week in the mother's body

• A rudimentary plant contained in the seed.

• The beginning; the first stage of anything.