Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French caroine, caroigne, Old French charoigne, based on Latin caro 'flesh'.

• carnival from mid 16th century:

  Originally a carnival was, in Roman Catholic countries, the period before Lent, a time of public merrymaking and festivities. It comes from medieval Latin carnelevamen ‘Shrovetide’. The base elements of the Latin word are caro, carn- ‘flesh’ and levare ‘to put away’, before the meat-free fasting of Lent began. There is a popular belief that carnival is from carne vale, ‘farewell, meat’, but this is mistaken. Other flesh-related words that come from caro include carnivorous (late 16th century), carnage (early 17th century), carnation (late 16th century) (from the flower's ‘fleshy’ colour), carrion (Middle English), and incarnation (Middle English).