24-karat gold
2
3.0
- noun
- /ˈtwɛntiˈfɔr ˈkærət ɡoʊld/
- Specialized
:
oro de 24 quilates
- He gifted her a necklace that is crafted from 24-karat gold.
- 24-karat gold plate
Examples
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She picked gold earrings with a swirly kind of design, and for the neckpiece, a 24-karat gold brooch.
Fiction book (2000) -
Three quarter-inch steel, reinforced armor-plating, bullet-resistant glass, and a 24-karat gold inlay.
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These... are all 24 karat gold bands.
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There were flakes of 24-karat gold in my stool for about a month.
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You could go crazy upscale and get a cup decorated with 24-karat gold, blue cobalt, and diamonds.
Blog text (29) -
Plated with 24-karat gold.
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Every night in his Naka Penthouse, he retires to the Calm Room, which is actually a bathroom tiled in 24-karat gold.
Blog text (9) -
The hand, also a golden color but more like pure, burnished 24-karat gold, pushed, and the sky gave way like soggy cardboard in a big, three-cornered tear.
Fiction book (1997) -
The jewelry store showcases beautiful rings made of 24-karat gold.
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This trophy is made entirely of 24-karat gold, symbolizing the highest achievement.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A soft yellow metal that is valuable and used for jewelry and money
6
2.7
Metal that is only gold with nothing else in it
How Pure
Surface Forms
Morphology
24-karat + gold
The phrase is compositionally transparent: '24-karat' specifies a numerical purity/grade and 'gold' names the metal, so the overall meaning 'completely pure gold' is directly derivable from its parts. Numeric+unit constructions expressing quality or purity are cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer this meaning.
Etymology
24-Karat gold may come from old small weights called karats, and one popular story says these were carob seeds used to weigh gems. When a piece had all 24 of these units, it meant the metal was fully pure, so 24-karat gold means '100 percent' gold with no other metals.