CARAT
What does "CARAT" mean?
A unit of weight for gemstones, equal to 200 milligrams.
Meanings
- A unit measuring the mass of diamonds and other gemstones; one carat equals 200 milligrams. The engagement ring held a one-carat diamond.
- A measure of the purity of gold, where 24 carat is pure gold (chiefly British spelling; 'karat' in US use). The bracelet was stamped 18 carat.
Did you know?
- The carat began as a carob seed: jewelers once balanced gems against the surprisingly uniform seeds of the carob tree, and the word descends from the Greek 'keration' for that seed before being fixed at exactly 200 milligrams in 1907.
Word origin
From Italian 'carato' and Arabic 'qirat', ultimately from Greek 'keration' ('little horn'), the name of the carob seed once used as a small reference weight.
Remember it
Four sound-alikes: CARAT weighs a gem, KARAT rates gold purity, CARET is the ^ mark, and CARROT you eat. The gem-weight one is CAR-AT.
A little poem
A seed once weighed against the stone-
now love is measured by its own.
couplet
Wordplay
- She asked how many carats the ring was. I said one - but I could only afford the carrot kind for dinner.
What it teaches
We still measure our brightest things against the humblest seed we first trusted.
Quick facts
What does CARAT mean?
A unit of weight for gemstones, equal to 200 milligrams.
Is CARAT a valid word?
Yes — CARAT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is CARAT?
CARAT has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does CARAT come from?
From Italian 'carato' and Arabic 'qirat', ultimately from Greek 'keration' ('little horn'), the name of the carob seed once used as a small reference weight.
What can CARAT teach us?
We still measure our brightest things against the humblest seed we first trusted.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.