a small, light, usually straight knife used in surgical and anatomical operations and dissections.
Origin: 1735–45; < Latinscalpellum, diminutive of scalprum tool for scraping or paring (derivative of scalpere to scratch); for formation see castellum
1742, from L. scalpellum, dim. of scalprum "knife, chisel, tool for scraping or cutting," from scalpere "to carve, cut," related to sculpere "to carve," from PIE base *(s)kel- "to cut, cleave."