Definition of oviduct

The word "oviduct" has its origins in the Latin word "ovarium," meaning "egg-refining." In Latin, an ovary is "ovarium uterinus" (meaning uterine ovary) because it was originally thought to be a part of the uterus. However, as understanding of female anatomy matured, it became clear that the ovary served a different purpose. In the mid-1700s, the anatomist William Cowper confusingly renamed the fallopian tube (which carries the egg from the ovary to the uterus) to "ovarium" to honor its origin in the ovary. This led to confusion because the term "ovarium" now had two very different meanings—the original meaning of uterine egg-refining and the new meaning of the fallopian tube connecting the ovary to the uterus. The situation was not cleared up until the mid-1800s when the term "ostium" (meaning "opening") was introduced to describe the point where the fallopian tube meets the ovary. The structured part of the fallopian tube from the ovary to the uterus continued to be called "ovarium" but with the caveat, "as distinguished from 'ovarium uteri'" clarifying that it was the ovary connected to the fallopian tube, not the uterus. Finally, in the early 1900s, the term "oviduct" was coined by the Danish anatomist Marchand Christensen to replace the imprecise term "ovarium." The term has stuck, and "oviduct" is now the widely accepted scientific word for the fallopian tube, with "ovarium" serving only as a historical term of interest.