Carpel
/ˈkɑː(ɹ)pəl/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A constituent part of a flower pistil: the 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. A pistil may be composed of a single carpel or of several carpels fused together.
- 2 a simple pistil or one element of a compound pistil wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsEtymology
1835, borrowed from French carpelle, from New Latin carpellum, a diminutive of Ancient Greek κᾰρπός (kărpós, “fruit”), from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pluck, harvest”).