carrot

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
carrot/ˈkarət/

▶noun

• 1 a tapering orange-coloured root eaten as a vegetable.

• 2 a cultivated plant of the parsley family with feathery leaves, which yields carrots. [Daucus carota.]

• 3 an offer of something enticing as a means of persuasion (as contrasted with the ‘stick’ or punishment).

• 4 (carrots) informal, chiefly derogatory a nickname for a red-haired person.

– derivatives
carroty adjective.

– origin C15: from Fr. carotte, from L. carota, from Gk karōton.