carat
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: carât
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle French carat, from Italian carato, from Arabic قِيرَاط (qīrāṭ, “carat, similarly small units such as inches”), from Ancient Greek κεράτιον (kerátion, “hornlet, carob seed”), from κέρας (kéras, “horn”) + -ιον (-ion, diminutive suffix). Doublet of karat and quilate.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkæɹ.ət/
- Homophones: karat, carrot; caret (weak vowel merger)
- Rhymes: -æɹət
Noun
carat (plural carats)
- A metric unit of mass equal to exactly 200 mg, chiefly used for measuring precious stones and pearls.
- Meronym: grain
- (historical) Any of several small units of mass used for measuring precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 189–212 mg.
- A 24-point scale used to measure the purity of gold.
- 18-carat gold is 75% gold by mass. 24-carat gold is pure.
Hyponyms
- metric carat (SI unit equal to 0.2 g exactly), quilate (historical Iberian and Latin American contexts)
Derived terms
Translations
mass
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measure of the purity of gold
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Anagrams
Noun
carat m (plural carats)
Further reading
- “carat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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