1620年代，“播種”，源自拉丁語 inseminare 的過去分詞 inseminatus，“播種，植入”，由 in- “在”（來自 PIE 根 *en “在”）和 semen（屬格 semenis）的“種子”（來自 PIE 根 *sē- “播種”）組成。1897年開始有“用精液使某個體懷孕”的含義。
It has seemed necessary, therefore, to make a distinction between the introduction of seminal fluid into the female generative organs of animals and the subsequent possible fertilisation of their ova, and for that purpose I have used the word "inseminate," which can thus be applied to animals in precisely the same way as the word "pollenate" is applied by some botanists to denote the placing of pollen on the stigma of a plant. [Walter Heape, "The artificial Insemination of Mammals," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. lxi, 1897]
因此，必須區分動物女性生殖器官中的精液引入和可能隨後的卵受精，爲此我使用了“inseminate”的詞彙，這個詞彙可以如同一些植物學家用“polenate”一樣地應用於動物身上，用於表示將花粉置於植物的柱頭上。【沃爾特·希普，“哺乳動物的人工授精”，《倫敦皇家學會議程》第六十一卷，1897年】
相關詞彙： Inseminated； inseminating。
