Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

pistil

[pis-tl]
noun Botany.
  1. the ovule-bearing or seed-bearing female organ of a flower, consisting when complete of ovary, style, and stigma.
  2. such organs collectively, where there are more than one in a flower.
  3. a gynoecium.
Show More

Origin of pistil

1570–80; earlier pistillum, special use of Latin pistillum pestle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pistil

Historical Examples

  • At the centre is the pistil, one or more, which forms the ultimate fruit.

    My Studio Neighbors

    William Hamilton Gibson

  • The pistil is divided into three parts, ovary, style, and stigma.

    My Studio Neighbors

    William Hamilton Gibson

  • The pistil is generally divisible into the ovary or germen, the style and the stigma.

  • Pistil: the part of the blossom that contains the immature seeds.

    Agriculture for Beginners

    Charles William Burkett

  • In the broom the pistil is rubbed on the centre of the back of the bee.

British Dictionary definitions for pistil

pistil

noun
  1. the female reproductive part of a flower, consisting of one or more separate or fused carpels; gynoecium
Show More

Word Origin

C18: from Latin pistillum pestle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pistil

n.

"female organ of a flower," 1718, from French pistil, from Modern Latin pistillum "a pistil," so called from resemblance to a pestle, from Latin pistillum "pestle" (see pestle). Related: Pistillary; pistillaceous; pistillate; pistilline.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pistil in Science

pistil

[pĭs′təl]
  1. One of the female reproductive organs of a flower, consisting of a single carpel or of several carpels fused together. A flower may have one pistil or more than one, though some flowers lack pistils and bear only the male reproductive organs known as stamens. See more at carpel flower.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
pistil in Culture

pistil

[(pis-tuhl)]

The female part of a plant. In flowering plants, it is at the center of the flower. When fertilized with pollen, the pistil develops into fruit.

Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.