ˈkarəˌtēn also -er- noun
also car·o·tin -ət ə n, -tə̇n ; or car·ro·tene or car·ro·tin
( -s )
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary carot- (from Late Latin carota carrot) + -ene or -in; probably originally formed as German karotin — more at carrot
: any of several orange or red crystalline pigments of the class of carotenoid hydrocarbons commonly occurring in the chromoplasts of plants and in the fatty tissues of plant-eating animals: as
a. : a mixture of three such pigments C 40 H 56 convertible in the animal body to vitamin A, obtained especially from various plant sources (as carrots and alfalfa), and used as a precursor of vitamin A and as a color for foods
b. : any of the three pigments C 40 H 56 convertible in the animal body to vitamin A, characterized chemically by one or two unsaturated rings terminating a long aliphatic polyene chain, and distinguished according to the number and nature of these rings as α-, β-, and γ- carotene ; specifically : the dark-red β-carotene that is the most widely distributed carotenoid and the principal pigment of carrots, that is also made synthetically, and that is the most active provitamin A since its molecule contains two rings of the type present in the vitamin A molecule