carpel

American  

[kahr-puhl] / ˈkɑr pəl /

noun

Botany.

1. a simple pistil, or a single member of a compound pistil.

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carpel British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪˌleɪt, ˈkɑːpəl /

noun

1. the female reproductive organ of flowering plants, consisting of an ovary, style (sometimes absent), and stigma. The carpels are separate or fused to form a single pistil

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carpel Scientific  

/ kär′pəl /

1. 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.

2. See more at flower

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Other Word Forms

• carpellary
  adjective
• carpellate
  adjective
• intercarpellary
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of carpel

1810–20; < New Latin carpellum, equivalent to Greek karp ( ós ) fruit + Latin -ellum diminutive suffix

Compare meaning

How does carpel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• pistil vs. carpel

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carpel

That year, Strasburg underwent season-ending carpel tunnel surgery — before eventually needing a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 5, 2023

Botanists sometimes call a single carpel or several fused carpels a pistil.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018

The narrow neck of the carpel, called the style, widens into a flat stigma at the top.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

The carpel is the individual unit of the gynoecium and has a stigma, style, and ovary.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

After fertilization the carpel enlarges to protect the seed, and becomes fleshy or woody, in the latter case a group of carpels forming the well-known cones of Pine or Fir.

From Wayside and Woodland Trees A pocket guide to the British sylva by Step, Edward