The oocyte in animals is a female germ cell in the process of developing into a mature egg. Because the oocyte is roughly the size of the point of a pin, it can be seen with the naked eye.

In human oocytes, after completing the first meiotic division at the time of ovulation the oocyte is haploid, meaning it has only 23 chromosomes in comparison to a normal (diploid) cell's 46 chromosomes.