noun

• In the reproductive cycle, the stage after the fertilization of the egg that precedes the development into a fetus.
• An organism in the earlier stages of development before it emerges from the egg, or before metamorphosis.
• In viviparous animals, the young animal's earliest stages in the mother's body
• In humans, usually the cell growth of the child within the mother's body, through the end of the seventh week of pregnancy
• (botany) A rudimentary plant contained in the seed.
• (figurative) The beginning; the first stage of anything.