Carpel Definition

kärpəl
carpels
noun
A simple pistil, regarded as a single ovule-bearing leaf or modified leaflike structure.
Webster's New World
Any of the segments of a compound pistil, usually having a single stigma.
Webster's New World

One of the individual female reproductive organs in a flower. A carpel is composed of an ovary, a style, and a stigma, although some flowers have carpels without a distinct style. In origin, carpels are leaves (megasporophylls) that have evolved to enclose the ovules. The term pistil is sometimes used to refer to a single carpel or to several carpels fused together.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Carpel

Noun

Singular:
carpel
Plural:
carpels

Origin of Carpel

  • New Latin carpellum from Greek karpos fruit kerp- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From French carpelle.

    From Wiktionary

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