2022-01-10
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – C - Carat, caret, carrot, karat
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com:
ออกเสียง Carat & carrot & karat = “KAR-uht’
ออกเสียง caret = “KAR-it”
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions:
carat, caret, carrot, karat
Carat refers to weight:
“The diamond weighted 1 carat.”
A caret is a mark:
“Use a caret to show the missing letter.”
Acarrotis a vegetable beloved by rabbits and some people:
“A carrot may be edible if it is scraped.”
Karat is a variant spelling of carat.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree:
Carat =
the weight of precious stones,
especially diamonds:
The stone in her engagement ring was over two carats.
Not to be confused with:
caret – a writer’s and a proofreader’s mark:
A caret is a symbol that is used to indicate
where material is to be inserted in a document.
karat – proportion of pure gold used with an alloy:
Her earrings were made of 24 karat gold.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Frequently Asked Questions About carat
What is the difference between a carat and a karat?
These two words are tricky,
as one of them may refer both
to the measurement of a precious stone's weight
and to the purity of gold,
while the other only refers to the purity of gold.
Carat may be used for both,
but karat is only employed in reference to gold.
What is weighed in carats?
Precious stones are weighed in carats;
a single carat is equal to 200 milligrams.
Carat is also a variant spelling of karat,
which measures the purity (but not the weight) of gold.
How much is a carat?
If carat is serving as a variant spelling of karat,
then it is measuring the fineness,
rather than the weight, of gold;
each carat is equal to 1/24 part of pure gold.
If carat is being used in reference to precious stones,
it is a unit of weight equal to 200 milligrams.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Usage Notes
'Carat' vs. 'Karat' (vs. 'Caret')
Know which one you're paying for
What to Know
A carat is a unit of weight used to measure the size
of a gemstone such as a diamond.
A karat is a measurement indicating
the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts,
so, 18K gold is 18/24 parts gold.
However, the use of carat (in place of karat)
to indicate the fineness of gold is also considered acceptable.
The idea that bigger is better
when it comes to precious stones was around long before
the dawn of precise instruments for measurement.
So, hundreds of years ago,
when people needed some standard for weighing their gems,
they turned to the carob tree.
Since the carob's seed weighs approximately
the same as the smallest gemstone,
it was designated as the base unit for weight,
and since the seed was called a carat,
the name came too:
any stone that approximated the weight of one seed
was deemed to weighone carat.
Carat vs Karat
The name carat derives, via Medieval French and Italian,
from Arabic qīrāṭ, meaning "bean pod,"
which is itself from Greek keration,
referring to both the carob bean and a small weight.
Early in the 20th century,
the weight of the carat was set at 200 milligrams, or 0.2 grams.
Thus, a 2-carat diamond weighs 400 milligrams or 0.4 grams.
The word karat is ultimately from the same source as carat
but came to refer to the fineness of gold:
one karat is equal to 1/24th part of pure gold in an alloy.
(The 1/24th proportion goes back to ancient Roman times
during which a siliqua was equal to 1/24th of a golden solidus.
But you already knew that.)
In other words,
a 14-karat gold ring consists of 14 parts gold
and 10 parts of some other metal, like copper; pure gold is 24 karats.
Although carat and karat have distinct meanings in the jewelry world,
the words are frequently confused.
Here are a few examples
showing karat being used to indicate the weight of a diamond
instead of the purity of gold.
… the buckles are made of sterling silver and 14K gold.
Some of them have a 0.10 karat diamond toward the center.
— The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 31 July 2017
The substitution of karat for carat in regard to precious stones
is considered incorrect,
whereas the reverse
—using carat in place of karat to indicate the pureness
or fineness of gold—is considered acceptable. (English strikes again.)
This use of carat as a variant spelling of karat
in the assessment of gold goes back to the 16th century,
so its acceptance in contemporary English is understandable.
Today, we commonly encounter both carat and karat
in reference to fine jewelry,
where size and quality are emphasized,
with carat usually designating the size of a stone
and karat designating the proportion of gold in an alloy.
It should also be noted
that karat is often abbreviated K,
as in "an 18K gold ring,"
but carat is almost always written in full.
One Extra: Caret
An altogether different homophone is caret:
the name for the wedge-shaped mark (^)
that is used by copy editors and proofreaders
to indicate the place where text is to be inserted.
