For other uses of the word carat, see
Carat. The carat is a unit of
mass used for measuring
gems and
pearls, and is exactly 200
milligrams. The word came to English from French, derived from the
Greek kerátion (κεράτιον), “fruit of the
carob”, via
Arabic qīrāṭ (قيراط) and
Italian carato. Carob seeds were used as weights on precision scales because of their reputation for having a uniform weight. However, a
2006 study found carob seeds to have as much variation in their weights as do other seeds, though it seems that it is easier than with other seeds to recognize particularly large or small specimens and remove them. Thus, the carob seed was used as a weight not because it was
naturally more uniform in weight, but because it could be more easily standardized.
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