noun
karat
KAIR-uht/ˈkærət/
A unit of gold purity equal to one twenty-fourth of the total.
This ring is made of fourteen-karat gold, not pure gold.
Etymology
Carob seeds served as small weights. The corresponding measure was one twenty-fourth of a Roman gold coin, leading to the purity scale on which each karat represents one part gold out of twenty-four.
In context
18 karat gold means that 18 out of 24 parts are gold, which equals 75% purity. The remaining 25% comes from other metals.
More examples
- Pure gold measures twenty-four karats.
- Eighteen-karat gold contains 75 percent gold.
- The jeweler checks the gold bracelet's karat rating before pricing it.
Forms
karat · karats
Similar words
- fineness
- Expresses precious-metal purity, often in parts per thousand rather than twenty-four.