Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries of a female animal. In the case of non-human animals, this is also called spaying. It is a form of sterilization.
The removal of the ovaries together with the Fallopian tubes is called salpingo-oophorectomy. Oophorectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy are not common forms of birth control in humans; more usual is tubal ligation, in which the Fallopian tubes are blocked but the ovaries remain intact.
In humans, oophorectomy is most usually performed together with a hysterectomy - the removal of the uterus. Its use in a hysterectomy when there are no other health problems is somewhat controversial.
In animals, spaying involves an invasive removal of the ovaries, but rarely has major complications; the superstition that it causes weight gain is not based on fact. Spaying is especially important for certain animals that require the ovum to be released at a certain interval (called estrus or "heat"), such as cats and dogs. If the cell is not released during these animal's heat, it can cause severe medical problems that can be averted by spaying or partnering the animal with a male.
Oophorectomy is sometimes referred to as castration, but that term is most often used to mean the removal of a male animal's testicles.
The Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia.
The most common Semitic languages spoken today are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Tigrinya.
The term "Semitic" for these language is etymologically a misnomer in some ways (see Semitic), but is the standard term in linguistics.
The classification given below is probably the most widespread - following Robert Hetzron - but is still disputed; in particular, several Semitists still argue for the traditional view of Arabic as part of South Semitic, and a few (eg Alexander Militarev ) see the South Arabian languages as a third branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic.
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Controversial (either East Semitic or Northwest Semitic): Eblaite language -- extinct
These languages all exhibit a pattern of words consisting of triconsonantal roots, with vowel changes, prefixes, and suffixes used to inflect them. For instance, in Hebrew:
Many roots are shared among more than one Semitic language. For example, the root ktb, a root signifying writing, exists in both Hebrew and Arabic ("he wrote" is rendered in Hebrew katav and in Classical Arabic kataba).
The following list will provide some equivalent words in Semitic languages.
| Akkadian | Aramaic | Arabic | Hebrew | English translation |
| zikaru | dikrā | ḏakar | zåḵår | Male |
| maliku | malkā | malik | mĕlĕḵ | King |
| imêru | ḥamarā | ḥimār | ḥămōr | Donkey |
| erṣetu | ʔarʿā | ʔarḍ | ʔĕrĕṣ | Land |
Sometimes certain roots differ in meaning from one Semitic language to another. For example, the root b-y-ḍ in Arabic has the meaning of "white" as well as "egg", whereas in Hebrew it only means "egg". The root l-b-n means "milk" in Arabic, but the color "white" in Hebrew.
Of course, there is sometimes no relation between the roots. For example, "knowledge" is represented in Hebrew by the root y-d-ʿ but in Arabic by the roots ʿ-r-f and ʿ-l-m.
Other Afro-Asiatic languages show similar patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. in Kabyle afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew".
See also: List of Proto-Semitic roots