A carat is a unit for measuring the weight of diamonds and other precious stones. It is equal to 0.2 grams.
The gemstone is 28.6 millimetres high and weighs 139.43 carats.
...a huge eight-carat diamond.
2. combining form
Carat is used after a number to indicate how pure gold is. The purest gold is 24-carat gold.
...a 14-carat gold fountain pen.
carat in British English
(ˈkærət)
noun
1.
a measure of the weight of precious stones, esp diamonds. It was formerly defined as 3.17 grains, but the international carat is now standardized as 0.20 grams
2. Usual US spelling: karat
a measure of the proportion of gold in an alloy, expressed as the number of parts of gold in 24 parts of the alloy
Word origin
C16: from Old French, from Medieval Latin carratus, from Arabic qīrāt weight of four grains, carat, from Greek keration a little horn, from keras horn
carat in American English
(ˈkærət)
noun
1.
a unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, equal to 3.0864 grains (200 milligrams): abbrev. C
2.
karat
Word origin
Fr < It carato < Ar qīrāt, pod, husk, weight of 4 grains < Gr keration, little horn, carob seed, carat, dim. of keras, horn
Examples of 'carat' in a sentence
carat
Shame the purple carrots aren't carat gold.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Each has a 24 carat fine gold thread winding around it.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Cut is the shape, carat is the weight and clarity is the number of flaws.
The Sun (2012)
In other languages
carat
British English: carat /ˈkærət/ NOUN
A carat is a unit equal to 0.2 grams used for measuring the weight of diamonds and other precious stones.