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ONLINE
ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY:
-
carat
(n.)
- mid-15c., from Middle French carat
"measure of the fineness of gold" (14c.), from Italian
carato, from Arabic qirat "pod, husk, weight of 4 grains,"
from Greek keration "carob seed," lit. "little horn"
diminutive of keras "horn" (see kerato-).
Carob beans were a standard for weighing small quantities.
As a measure of diamond weight, from 1570s. The Greek measure was
the equivalent of the Roman siliqua, which was one-twentyfourth of
a golden solidus of Constantine; hence the word took on a sense of
"a proportion of one twentyfourth" and became a measure
of gold purity (1550s). Eighteen carat gold is eighteen parts gold,
six parts alloy. It is unlikely that the classical carat was ever a
measure of weight for gold.
Etymology/WICTIONARY
Middle French
carat,
from Italian
carato,
from Arabic
قيراط (qirāṭ, “husk”),
from Ancient Greek
κεράτιον (keration, “carob
seed”), diminutive form of
κέρας (keras, “horn”).
Noun
carat (
plural carats)
A
unit
of
weight for
precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 200 milligrams.
Formerly, any of several units of
weight, varying from 189 to 212 mg, the weight of a carob seed.
- A measure of the purity
of gold, pure gold
being 24 carats.
