Glossary

Gem
This refers to a cut and polished stone for use as jewelry. It should fulfill the requirements of beauty, durability and rarity.

Cut
Cut refers to a diamond's shape. M ost popular shapes include the 58-facet round cut and oval cut . Other interesting cuts include the princess cut and emerald cut which is more squarish.

Carat
This refers to the weight of the diamond which determines its size. C arats, points, and grains are used as units of measurement of diamonds wherein 1 carat = 100 points . Roughly, 1 carat weighs .20 grams ,

Clarity
The clarity is the major factor in determining the price of a diamond. This refers to the presence or absence of flaws such as surface blemished or diamond inclusions. If there are fewer flaws, more light is reflected, thereby, more sparkle.

Color
The most common diamond is the traditional colorless one. However, diamonds may come in reds, greens, blue and canary yellow. The Gemological Institute of America developed a color grade which starts from D . Here's the scale:

DEF=colorless
GHIJ=near colorless
KLM=faint yellow
NOPQR=very light yellow
STUVWXYZ=light yellow
Fancy light, fancy, fancy internal=yellow

Flaw
A flaw refers to a scratch or abrasion on a diamond's surface or a defect within the diamond's crystalline structure.