What does "prehatch" mean?

To undergo changes that lead to hatching, such as the rupture of internal membranes as the embryo begins to emerge from the blastoderm cuticle.

Prehatch

adj, verb

adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To undergo changes that lead to hatching, such as the rupture of internal membranes as the embryo begins to emerge from the blastoderm cuticle.
"Failure of these eggs to prehatch within 30 days at 7 C is not surprising since it took longer for prehatching to occur in nature under substantially lower temperatures than 7 C."

Adjective

1
Before the hatching of an egg not-comparable
"The controversy stems from the company’s use of antibiotics for prehatch vaccinations two to three days before its chicks are hatched."

"The controversy stems from the company’s use of antibiotics for prehatch vaccinations two to three days before its chicks are hatched."

From pre- + hatch.

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