What does the word 'carat' mean?

1. What are diamonds made of?
2. How old are diamonds and where do they come from?
3. Where does the word 'diamond' originate from?
4. What does the word 'carat' mean?
5. What makes up the value of a diamond?
6. What is the powerful magic and mystery of the diamond?
7. Where does the custom of the engagement ring come from?
8. Why are diamonds the eternal symbol of love?
9. What does the diamond that you choose say about you?
10. Which one is for you?

The carat is the unit of weight for diamonds. A carat weights 0.20 of a gramme and is divided into 100 points, therefore a three-quarter carat diamond is 75 points, a half carat diamond is 50 points and a quarter carat diamond is 25 points and so on ...

The derivation of the word carat is most interesting - Revolutionary Indian diamond traders in the 17th century used the locally-available carob seed as a comparison when assessing the weight of the rough diamond. The carob seed on one side of the weighing scales and rough diamonds on the other. By a miraculous feat of nature the weight of a single carob seed was always 0.20 gramme. Following this the unit of weight for diamonds was established and the name 'carob' became 'carat'.