Ovipositor

//əʊvɪˈpɒzɪtə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tubular protruding organ for laying eggs.

    "I'm fascinated by a splendid European wasp - Rhyssa persuasoria (sabre wasp). […] It has a remarkable ovipositor. That's the multi-function "hypodermic needle" at the end of the abdomen, and, in this instance, it doubles the length of the wasp to about 8cm."

  2. 2
    egg-laying tubular structure at the end of the abdomen in many female insects and some fishes wordnet

Example

More examples

"I'm fascinated by a splendid European wasp - Rhyssa persuasoria (sabre wasp). […] It has a remarkable ovipositor. That's the multi-function "hypodermic needle" at the end of the abdomen, and, in this instance, it doubles the length of the wasp to about 8cm."

Etymology

From ovi- (“egg”) + Latin positor (“one who places”, agent noun form of pōnere).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.