karat

or car·at

[ kar-uht ]

/ ˈkær ət /

Save This Word!

noun

a unit for measuring the fineness of gold, pure gold being 24 karats fine. Abbreviation: k., kt.

QUIZ

CUDDLE UP! A COZY QUIZ ON FALL WORDS HAS ARRIVED

If autumn is your ideal season, spice up your repertoire of "fall" vocabulary with this quiz on some warm and vivid descriptive words for the season.

Question 1 of 10

Which of the following words means “to make a crackling sound; crackle”?

crisp

crepitate

fuscous

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of karat

First recorded in 1550–60; spelling variant of carat

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH karat

carat, caret, carrot, karat

Words nearby karat

karanda, karanga, Karankawa, karaoke, Kara Sea, karat, karate, karate-chop, karateka, karaya gum, Karbala

How to use karat in a sentence

It is now on the market as kunzite, and a cut stone of one karat in weight sells for fifty dollars and more.
The Heritage of the Hills|Arthur P. Hankins
It's like a fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a rube by mistake, under the impression it only looks like one.
Flying U Ranch|B. M. Bower
There could be no shadow of doubt as to the genuineness of the claim that the trophy was of eighteen-karat gold.
Lad: A Dog|Albert Payson Terhune
Selim bought her last winter for a ten karat ruby and a pint of sapphires.
The Man From Brodney's|George Barr McCutcheon

During the past five years, when the product in the Congo fields has grown steadily, not a single karat has been stolen.
An African Adventure|Isaac F. Marcosson

British Dictionary definitions for karat

karat

/ (ˈkærət) /

noun

US and Canadian a measure of the proportion of gold in an alloy, expressed as the number of parts of gold in 24 parts of the alloyAlso spelt (in Britain and certain other countries): carat

Word Origin for karat

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012