testis
pronunciation
How to pronounce testis in British English:
UK [ˈtestɪs]
How to pronounce testis in American English:
US [ˈtɛstɪs]
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- Noun:
- one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens
Word Origin
- testis (n.)
- (plural testes), 1704, from Latin testis "testicle," usually regarded as a special application of testis "witness" (see testament), presumably because it "bears witness to male virility" [Barnhart]. Stories that trace the use of the Latin word to some supposed swearing-in ceremony are modern and groundless. Compare Greek parastatai "testicles," from parastates "one that stands by;" and French slang témoins, literally "witnesses." But Buck thinks Greek parastatai "testicles" has been wrongly associated with the legal sense of parastates "supporter, defender" and suggests instead parastatai in the sense of twin "supporting pillars, props of a mast," etc. Or it might be a euphemistic use of the word in the sense "comrades." OED, meanwhile, points to Walde's suggestion of a connection between testis and testa "pot, shell, etc." (see tete).
Example
- 1. The male y chromosome has a gene ( sry ) which switches on the development of testis and pumps out male hormones that determine maleness .
- 2. The protein , which was identified at memorial sloan-kettering , is normally absent in tissues after fetal development , except in the testis , but it reappears in about a third of all common cancers .
- 3. In male , the immunopositive reaction in spermatogonia , spermatocyte and spermatid to testosterone antibodies strengthened gradually during the development and maturation of testis .
- 4. Investigation of heroin addict testis and epididymis by b-ultrasound .
- 5. Bradner has high hopes that brd4 inhibitors such as jq1 will become cancer therapies , but he and his colleagues knew that brd4 is also closely related to a protein called brdt , which helps control cell division in the testis .