testicle (tes'tik-kl). 1

The sexual gland of the male. 2. Any structure furnishing spermatozoids. In man the testicles are two in number, ovoid, and are developed from the genital gland, which in the fetus is situated below the lower pole of the kidney. Near the end of intrauterine life they normally descend, guided and drawn by the gubernaculum testis, through the inguinal canal to the scrotum, where they are suspended by the spermatic cords, the left hanging somewhat the lower. In their descent they derive a series of investitures from the several layers of the abdominal wall. Each testicle consists of a number of secreting tubules, which produce spermatozoa, the secretion being gathered through the corpus Highmori and discharged through the vas deferens, displaced t. A t. abnormally situated, as within the pelvis or in the inguinal canal, inverted t. A condition in which the attitude of the t. in the scrotum is reversed, so that the free surface presents posteriorly, and the epididymis is attached to the anterior instead of the posterior part of the gland. irritable t. Neuralgia of the t. pulpy t. Medullary sarcoma of the t. scrofulous t. See tuberculous orchitis, under orchitis, swelled t. See epididymitis. syphilitic t. See syphilitic orchitis, under orchitis. t. juice. See under juice, undescended t. A congenital malformation in which one or both t's remain in the abdominal cavity or in the inguinal canal. [Lat, testis.']