Other forms: karats
A karat is a measure of how pure gold is, out of twenty-four. Eighteen karat gold, karat purity, twenty-four karat.
Pure gold is twenty-four karat and too soft for most jewellery, so eighteen karat is three quarters gold and much harder. Britain spells it carat for gold as well as gems, and America keeps the two apart.
1nounkaratA measure of how pure gold is, out of twenty-four.
“Her wedding ring is made of eighteen-karat gold.”
karat is a measure.
Ancient Greek
κεράτιον — hornlet, carob seed
Arabic
قِيرَاط — carat, similarly small units such as inches
Italian
carato
Middle French
carat
English
carat
English, today
karat
Built from
carat comes from Middle French carat, from Italian carato, from Arabic قِيرَاط (“carat, similarly small units such as inches”), from Ancient Greek κεράτιον (“hornlet, carob seed”), from κέρας (“horn”) + -ιον. a doublet of quilate and keratin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA