-gamy

Also ‑gamous and ‑gamic.

Marriage, fertilization or reproduction.

Greek gamos, marriage.

Some common words in ‑gamy refer to human marriage customs, such as monogamy or bigamy. Others are terms from zoology or biology that relate to reproduction. For more examples, The endings ‑gamous and ‑gamic form related adjectives (monogamous, cryptogamic).

Examples of words in -gamy
Word origins are from Greek unless otherwise stated.

Relating to human marriage customs:

bigamy

illegal marriage to more than one person at a time

Latin bi‑, twice

endogamy

marriage only within one clan or tribe

endon, within

exogamy

the custom of marrying only outside one's clan or tribe

exō, outside

monogamy

marriage to only one person at a time

monos, alone

polygamy

marriage to more than one person at a time

polloi, many

Relating to reproduction in plants or animals:

autogamy

self-pollination

autos, self

cryptogamy

having no flowers but reproducing by spores

kruptos, hidden

homogamy

simultaneous maturation of the stamens and pistils of a flower, the opposite of dichogamy; inbreeding, especially as the result of isolation

homos, same; see previous section

karyogamy

the fusion of the nuclei of cells

karuon, kernel

plasmogamy

fusion of the cytoplasm of two or more cells

plasma, a thing moulded

syngamy

the fusion of two cells in reproduction

sun, with

xenogamy

fertilization of a flower by pollen from another, non-identical, plant

xenos, stranger or foreigner