corpus luteum

From Latin corpus (“body”) + lūteum (“yellow”)

corpus luteum (plural corpora lutea)

1. (anatomy) A yellow mass of cells that forms from an ovarian follicle during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle in mammals; it secretes steroid hormones.
   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society 2016, p. 546:

     The role of the corpus luteum in the oestrous cycle and in pregnancy was shown in 1929 by G. W. Corner (1889–1981) and Willard Allen (1904–93) to depend on a hormone named progestin, later called progesterol.