Orange Carrots Are a Recent Invention
A carrot is an edible root. For most of its history it was purple or white, and the orange one is a few centuries old.
A carrot is the orange taproot of *Daucus carota*. The colour is not original: cultivated carrots were purple, white or yellow for centuries, and the orange variety was developed in the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The story that it was bred to honour the House of Orange is popular but not firmly established.
- An orange root vegetable. *Grated carrot.*
- An incentive. *The carrot and the stick.*
- Carrot as a modifier. *Carrot cake.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | carrot | A raw carrot. |
| Plural | carrots | Bunched carrots. |
| Adjective | carroty | Carroty hair. |
| Species | Daucus carota | Wild Daucus carota. |
| Idiom | carrot and stick | A carrot and stick approach. |
How it is used in a sentence
- They offered a carrot and a stick.Reward and threat.
- Wild carrot is also called Queen Anne's lace.The ancestor of the cultivated plant.
- Carrots contain beta-carotene.Named after the carrot itself.
Carrot facts and myths
- Purple first — early cultivated carrots were purple, white or yellow
- Beta-carotene — the pigment is named after the carrot
- Night vision myth — spread during the Second World War, reportedly to explain British radar success
- Real basis — vitamin A deficiency does impair night vision, so extra carrots help only if you are deficient
- Queen Anne's lace — the wild ancestor, common in hedgerows
From French *carotte*, from Latin *carota*, from Greek *karoton*. The root is possibly related to *kara*, head.
Do carrots improve night vision?
Only if you are deficient in vitamin A. The idea was heavily promoted in wartime Britain and has been exaggerated ever since.
Were carrots bred orange for the Dutch royal family?
The claim is widely repeated but not well evidenced. Dutch growers did develop the orange variety, and the rest may be folklore.