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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Gamete \Gam"ete\ (g[a^]m"[=e]t; g[.a]*m[=e]t"; the latter usually in compounds), noun [Gr. gameth' wife, or game'ths husband, fr. gamei^n to marry.] (Biol.) A sexual cell or germ cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomes; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, {sperm} (male) and {egg} (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an o["o]spore. In Zo["o]l., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
gamete
noun: a mature sexual reproductive cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomes
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