what is a caret?

[darth vader]

the little flashy cursor in MS Word is called a caret - why a caret and where does the word 'caret' come from?

[mikewall01]

A caret is a symbol, like an upside-down y, which is used in writing, or printing, to denote the place where something is to be inserted. The word originates from the Latin word 'carere' which means 'lacking' or, 'there is missing'