carat

See also: carât and çarat

English

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, diminutive suffix). Doublet of quilate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ɹət/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹ.ət/

• Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Homophones: karat, carrot; caret (weak vowel merger)
• Rhymes: -æɹət

Noun

carat (plural carats)

1. A metric unit of mass equal to exactly 200 mg, chiefly used for measuring precious stones and pearls.

   Meronym: grain

2. (historical) Any of several small units of mass used for measuring precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 189–212 mg.
3. A 24-point scale used to measure the purity of gold.

   Alternative form: (North America) karat

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

Hyponyms

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

Derived terms

• caratage
• carater
• metric carat
• multicarat

Translations

mass

• Arabic: قِيرَاط m (qīrāṭ)

  Hijazi Arabic: قِيراط m (gīrāṭ)

• Bulgarian: карат (bg) m (karat)
• Catalan: quirat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克拉 (zh) (kèlā)

• Czech: karát (cs) m
• Dutch: karaat (nl) n
• Esperanto: karato
• 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 (ja) (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
• Swahili: karati
• Swedish: karat (sv) c
• Thai: กะรัต (th) (gà-ràt)
• Turkish: karat

measure of the purity of gold

• Arabic: قِيرَاط (qīrāṭ)

  Egyptian Arabic: قيراط (ʔerāṭ)

• Armenian: կարատ (hy) (karat)
• Belarusian: кара́т m (karát)
• 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
• Esperanto: karato
• Finnish: karaatti (fi)
• French: carat (fr) m
• Galician: quilate m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• 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 (ja) (karatto)
• Khmer: ការ៉ាត់ (kaarat)
• Korean: 캐럿 (kaereot)
• Kyrgyz: карат (ky) m (karat)
• Macedonian: ка́рат m (kárat)
• 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)
• Thai: กะรัต (th)
• Turkish: ayar (tr)
• Ukrainian: кара́т m (karát)
• Vietnamese: ca ra, cà rá (vi), cara

Anagrams

• ATRAC, Carta

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

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.

Noun

carat m (plural caras or caraz)

1. carat (measure of purity of gold)

Descendants

• → English: carat

Middle Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɾəd̪/

Noun

carat

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

Mutation

Mutation of carat

radical	lenition	nasalization
carat	charat	carat pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Middle Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ɾəd̪/
  • (Blasse) [ˈka.ɾad̪]
  • (Griffith) [ˈka.ɾəd̪]

Noun

carat

1. genitive singular/dual/plural of cara

Mutation

Mutation of carat

radical	lenition	nasalization
carat	charat	carat pronounced with /ɡ-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Polish

Etymology

From car +‎ -at.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sa.rat/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arat
• Syllabification: ca‧rat

Noun

carat m inan

1. (uncountable) tsarism (system of government ruled by a tsar)

   Synonym: caryzm

2. (countable) tsardom, tsarate (territory ruled by a tsar)

   Synonym: carstwo

Declension

Declension of carat

	singular	plural
nominative	carat	caraty
genitive	caratu	caratów
dative	caratowi	caratom
accusative	carat	caraty
instrumental	caratem	caratami
locative	caracie	caratach
vocative	caracie	caraty

Related terms

adjectives

• antycarski
• carowy
• carski

nouns

• car
• carewicz
• carobójca
• carobójstwo
• carowa
• carówna
• carstwo
• caryca
• caryzm
• carzyk

Further reading

• carat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• carat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French carat.

Noun

carat n (plural carate)

1. carat, karat

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	carat	caratul		carate	caratele
genitive-dative	carat	caratului		carate	caratelor
vocative	caratule			caratelor