carrot

Meaning

Noun

1. A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, especially the subspecies sativus in the family Apiaceae.
2. A shade of orange similar to the flesh of most carrots (also called carrot orange).
3. Any motivational tool; an incentive to do something.
4. (slang) Someone from a rural background.
5. (slang) A police officer from somewhere within the British Isles, but specifically outside of Greater London.
6. (slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person

Verb

To treat (an animal pelt) with a solution of mercuric nitrate as part of felt manufacture.

Hyphenated as

car‧rot

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæɹ.ət/

Etymology

From Middle English karette and Middle French carotte, both from Latin carōta, from Ancient Greek καρωτόν (karōtón). Doublet of carotte and related to caraway. Displaced native Middle English more, from Old English more, moru (“edible root, parsnip, carrot”), related to German Möhre (“carrot”).
* Noun sense of "motivational tool" refers to carrot and stick.
* Verb sense in felt manufacture refers to the orange colour of drying furs.