carat
‘a measure of the fineness of gold’
Lexical development traced from the Tamil root:
E. caracte, carette, kirat, carract < O.F. carat ‘measure of the fineness of gold’ < Ital. carato < Med.Lat. carratus < Arab. qirat ‘fruit of the carob tree’ < Gk. keration ‘carob seed’ < keras ‘horn of an animal’ < kar < ker- < Tamil kaṭu