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

Derived Forms

• intercarpellary
  adjective
• carpellate
  adjective
• carpellary
  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

William Schmidt, 96, a chemistry professor who taught at George Washington University from 1953 to 1991, died Jan. 26 at a care center in Fairfax County, Va. The cause was dementia, said a daughter, Connie Carpel.

From Washington Post • Mar. 27, 2017

Eventually I got really bad Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in my hands, so to avoid surgery I decided to get away from the automotive stuff because it was far more abusive.

From Time Magazine Archive

Carpel, a simple pistil, or one of the several parts of a compound one.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

Carpel, k�r′pel, n. a modified leaf forming the whole or part of the pistil of a flower.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

We boys spent our time monotonously and quietly, our life was now made beautiful by the love of our little friend Carpel.

From Gabriel A Story of the Jews in Prague by Kohn, Spiegfried