carat

carat

See also: carât

English

Alternative forms

• (unit of purity): karat, k (North America)

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, “forming diminutives”). Doublet of karat and quilate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæɹ.ət/
• Rhymes: -æɹət
• Homophones: karat, carrot, caret (weak vowel merger)

Noun

carat (plural carats)

1. A metric unit of weight equal to exactly 200 mg, chiefly used for measuring precious stones and pearls .
2. (historical) Any of several small units of weight used for measuring precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 189–212 mg.
3. A 24-point scale used to measure the purity of gold.

   18-carat gold is 75% gold by mass. 24k gold is 100% pure.

Hyponyms

• metric carat (SI unit equal to 0.2 g exactly), quilate (historical Iberian and Latin American contexts)

Derived terms

• metric carat

Translations

weight

Arabic: قِيرَاط‎ m (qīrāṭ) Bulgarian: карат (bg) m (karat) Catalan: quirat (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 克拉 (zh) (kèlā) Czech: karát (cs) m Dutch: karaat (nl) n Finnish: karaatti (fi) French: carat (fr) m Galician: quilate m German: Karat (de) n Greek: καράτι (el) n (karáti) Hebrew: קראט‎ m (qarat') Hungarian: karát (hu) Indonesian: karat (id) Italian: carato (it) m Japanese: カラット (karatto) Khmer: ការាត់ (km) (kaarat) Korean: 캐럿 (kaereot) Maltese: karat Persian: قیراط‎ (fa) (qirât) Polish: karat (pl) m Portuguese: quilate (pt) m Russian: кара́т (ru) m (karát) Sicilian: caratu (scn) m Slovak: karát m Spanish: quilate (es) m Swedish: karat (sv) c Thai: กะรัต (th) (gà-ràt)

measure of the purity of gold

Armenian: կարատ (hy) (karat) Bulgarian: карат (bg) m (karat) Burmese: ကရက် (my) (ka.rak) Catalan: quirat (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 克拉 (zh) (kèlā) Czech: karát (cs) m Dutch: karaat (nl) n Finnish: karaatti (fi) French: carat (fr) m Galician: quilate m German: Karat (de) n Greek: καράτι (el) n (karáti) Hebrew: קראט‎ m (qarat') Hungarian: karát (hu) Indonesian: karat (id) Italian: carato (it) m Maltese: karat Polish: karat (pl) m Portuguese: quilate (pt) m Russian: кара́т (ru) m (karát) Sicilian: caratu (scn) m Slovak: karát m Spanish: quilate (es) m Swedish: karat (sv) c Tagalog: kilatis (tl) Vietnamese: ca ra, cà rá (vi), cara

Anagrams

• ATRAC, Carta

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French

Noun

carat m (plural carats)

1. carat

Further reading

• “carat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Etymology

First known attestation in 1360 in the plural as quarais. Attested in the singular as quaret at least as early as 1433. Spellings with an initial c- first attested 1367[1].

Noun

carat m (plural caras or caraz)

1. carat (measure of purity of gold)

References

1. Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (carat, supplement)

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Middle Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkarəd/

Noun

carat

1. genitive singular/plural of cara (“friend; relative”)

Mutation

Middle Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
carat	charat	carat pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkarad]

Noun

carat

1. genitive singular/dual/plural of cara

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
carat	charat	carat pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French carat.

Noun

carat n (plural carate)

1. carat, karat

Declension

Declension of carat

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) carat	caratul	(niște) carate	caratele
genitive/dative	(unui) carat	caratului	(unor) carate	caratelor
vocative	caratule		caratelor