noun
oogonium
Technical term in biology for the female germ cell that gives rise to oocytes.
卵祖細胞は卵巣の中で卵母細胞へと分化する。
Oogonia differentiate into oocytes within the ovary.
Compound of 卵 (ran, 'egg'), 祖 (so, 'ancestor'), and 細胞 (saibō, 'cell'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the spelling is conventionally associated with the biological meaning.