noun

1. a biennial plant (Daucus carota) of the umbel family, with fernlike leaves and compound umbels of white flowers, usually with one red flower in the center: only the cultivated variety is edible
2. the fleshy, orange-red root of the cultivated strain of this plant (var. sativa), eaten as a vegetable
3. something offered as a tantalizing but deceptive inducement, like a carrot dangled before a donkey's nose

Etymology: MFr carotte < L carota < Gr karōton, carrot; akin to kara, head: see horn