the organs in animals that produce reproductive cells; in males this means testes, and in females this means ovaries.
From Greek 'gonad-' derived from 'gone' meaning 'generation' or 'seed.' The '-ad' suffix is common in anatomy for gland-like structures, making this a purely scientific term.
The gonad was so central to ancient Greek thinking about biology that they used the word for 'seed' as its root—they understood reproduction differently than we do now, but recognized these organs' importance.
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