| Term |
Definition |
| Ante-natal |
Before birth. |
| Fertilisation |
The joining of sperm with ovum, completed when their nuclei are combined, to make a genetically new individual. |
| Foetus (Latin, ‘young, offspring’) |
The developing human from eight weeks after fertilisation up to birth. |
| Gestational age |
The baby’s age calculated by estimating pregnancy as starting from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period. |
| Morula (Latin, “mulberry”) |
The earliest stage of human embryo development; the first four days of life when the growing cell cluster looks like (but is not) a berry. |
| Sentient capacity |
The ability to feel sensations such as pain. |
| Zygote (Greek, ‘joining’) |
The new, one-celled being formed when sperm fertilises egg; the zygote of the species Homo sapiens is a human being at the earliest stage of life. |
