Carotene, the orange pigment found in carrots and other plants that the body converts to vitamin A.
Derived from 'carrot' with the chemical suffix '-in' (used for organic compounds). The term 'carotene' was literally named after carrots because this pigment was first isolated and identified in carrots. This represents an unusual case where a nutrient is named after a vegetable.
Carrots literally gave their name to carotene—when scientists first discovered this orange pigment, they called it 'carrot-in' because that's where they found it! Now we use carotene for the compound in everything from sweet potatoes to spirulina.
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