The word 胡萝卜 (húluóbo, "carrot") is formed by combining three meaningful characters: 胡 (hú), which historically denoted things from the western regions (hinting at the vegetable's foreign origin); 萝 (luó), a component often found in plant names like 萝卜 (luóbo, "radish"), linking it to that vegetable family; and 卜 (bo), which directly means "radish". Together, they create a composite idea of a "foreign radish", visually and conceptually building the specific term for the orange root vegetable from its general category and perceived origin.