Nuts and Bolts: plano- prefix.

English words which begin plano- come from the Latin planus, which means flat or level.

Well, mostly they do, anyway.

A plano-concave lens has one flat side (the other one is scooped out); planography involves printing from a flat surface; planosol may sound like a medication for something unspeakable, but it's actually a layer of soil found in hot wet upland regions which is, typically, water-logged and flat.

And planogamete?

Well, a gamete is either an unfertilised egg or a sperm. One of each of the two kinds need to fuse together to start off the life of a new creature in very many species.

And so, are some gametes...flat?

Nope. Irritatingly, that plano- prefix comes from the Greek word planos, which means wandering. (It's what planets do.)

Sometimes I think these scientists are just trying to exclude and confuse people.

Word To Use Today: one beginning plano-. The word gamete comes from the Greek gamos, which means marriage. 

I think that's rather lovely.