What is "carpel"

Carpel \Car"pel\ (k[aum]r"p[e^]l), ||Carpellum \Car*pel"lum\ (-p[e^]l"l[u^]m), n. [NL. carpellum, fr. Gr. karpo`s fruit.] (Bot.) A simple pistil or single-celled ovary or seed vessel, or one of the parts of a compound pistil, ovary, or seed vessel. See Illust of Carpaphore.

1835, from Modern Latin carpellum (1817 in French), a diminutive form from Greek karpos "fruit" (also "returns, profit"), literally "that which is plucked," from PIE root *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (see harvest (n.)).

n. (context botany English) 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 ovule. The term pistil is sometimes used to refer to a single carpel or to several carpels fused together.

n. a simple pistil or one element of a compound pistil