carrot

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkæɹət/ (UK); /ˈkæɹət/, /ˈkɛɹət/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French carotte,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Late Latin carōta,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek καρωτόν (karōtón, “carrot”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably from kárā “head”,^[3][4][6] from the Proto-Indo-European root *ker- “horn, head”,^[2][4] perhaps for its horn-like shape.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The edible root of the carrot plant (1533);^[7][3][5] the plant itself is recorded from 1538.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The ancient carrot was white-rooted and used medicinally;^[4] a purple variety came to Europe through the Arabs, and the modern orange root was developed in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[4] The colour name, at first of yellowish-red hair, is not recorded before the 1670s,^[4] and carrots was used humorously of red hair or a red-haired person (c. 1685).^[7] The figurative carrot, a reward or inducement, alludes to tempting a donkey forward with a dangling carrot.^[7][5][6]

Timeline

• 1533 – the root.^[7][3][5]
• 1538 – the plant.^[7]
• 1670s – a colour, of red hair.^[4]
• c. 1685 – carrots, red hair.^[7]
• 1862 – verb, to treat fur with mercuric nitrate.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A biennial plant of the parsley family, Daucus carota, widely grown for its edible root.
2. The long, tapering, usually orange root of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.
3. A reward or advantage offered as an inducement, often contrasted with a stick.
4. (US) Queen Anne's lace, the wild carrot.

Word family

• carotene
• carroty

Related words

• parsnip

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press