Jewellery Design Vocabulary in English — 20 Essential Terms

A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks stamped onto a precious metal item by an authorised assay office, certifying the metal's purity and authenticity. In the United Kingdom, hallmarking has been compulsory since 1300, making it one of the oldest forms of consumer protection in the world. A British hallmark typically includes a maker's mark, a metal purity mark (such as 925 for sterling silver or 750 for 18-carat gold), an assay office mark (a symbol indicating which office tested the piece), and sometimes a date letter. Without a hallmark, it can be difficult to verify the composition of a metal item, which matters enormously for its value and safety.

In a prong setting (also called a claw setting), a gemstone is held in place by three, four, or six small metal claws that grip the girdle of the stone. This style allows maximum light to reach the stone from the sides, which is why it is popular for diamonds. In a bezel setting, a continuous rim of metal wraps around the entire circumference of the stone, fully enclosing the girdle. Bezel settings offer superior protection for stones with softer edges or inclusions, and are often preferred for active lifestyles because there are no protruding claws to snag on clothing. Bezel settings can appear more modern or sleek, while prong settings often look more traditional and maximise brilliance.

The word carat has two distinct meanings in jewellery, which often causes confusion. When applied to gemstones, carat (abbreviated ct) is a unit of weight: 1 carat equals 0.2 grams. A larger carat weight generally means a bigger, heavier stone and a higher price. When applied to precious metals, carat (abbreviated ct or k) measures purity: 24-carat gold is pure gold, 18-carat gold is 75 per cent gold and 25 per cent other metals, and 9-carat gold is 37.5 per cent gold. The word comes from the Italian carato, which derived from the Greek word for the carob seed, historically used as a standard weight. Note that the spelling “karat” is used for metal purity in American English, while British English uses “carat” for both.

Filigree is a delicate form of metalwork in which fine threads of gold or silver wire are twisted, plaited, or coiled and then soldered together to create intricate, lace-like patterns. The word derives from the Latin filum (thread) and granum (grain). Filigree has a long history spanning many cultures, from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to Byzantine, Indian, and Renaissance European jewellery. Today it remains particularly associated with Portuguese, Indian, and Italian goldsmithing traditions. Filigree requires great patience and precision because the fine wires can collapse under too much heat, and the soldering must be controlled very carefully to avoid melting the delicate structure.

A cabochon (from the French for “bald head”) is a gemstone that has been shaped and polished to a smooth, domed surface with a flat base, without any flat cut faces. Cabochons are typically used for opaque or translucent stones such as turquoise, malachite, moonstone, opal, and star sapphire. A faceted stone has multiple flat, polished surfaces (facets) cut into it at precise angles to maximise the reflection and refraction of light. Faceting is used for transparent stones such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires where brilliance is the goal. The choice between cabochon and faceted treatment depends on the stone's optical properties — a stone with a beautiful optical phenomenon like asterism (the star effect) is usually cut as a cabochon to display it best.

Soldering is one of the most fundamental techniques in jewellery making. It uses a metal alloy called solder, which has a lower melting point than the metals being joined, and a heat source such as a jeweller's torch. The jeweller heats the pieces of metal and the solder flows into the join by capillary action, bonding the parts together when it cools. Different grades of solder — hard, medium, and easy — melt at different temperatures, which allows a jeweller to make multiple joins on the same piece without re-melting earlier joins. Silver, gold, and platinum all have their own compatible solders. The quality of a solder join should be invisible in the finished piece.

An alloy is a mixture of two or more metals. Pure precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum are generally too soft in their pure state to be practical for everyday jewellery: they would bend, scratch, and wear away quickly. By mixing them with other metals, jewellers create alloys that are harder, more durable, and often more affordable. For example, sterling silver is 92.5% silver alloyed with 7.5% copper. The copper makes it much stronger while preserving the appearance and most of the value of silver. Gold alloys come in different colours depending on what metals are added: copper produces rose gold, palladium or nickel produces white gold, and a small addition of silver and copper produces the traditional yellow gold colour.

Repoussé (from the French word meaning “pushed back”) is a technique in which a metal sheet is hammered or pushed from the back to create a raised three-dimensional design on the front. The sheet is supported on a soft surface such as pitch or sand so it can yield under the hammer. Engraving, by contrast, is a subtractive process in which designs are cut into the surface of a metal using a sharp tool called a graver or burin, removing material to create lines and patterns. Repoussé creates relief by displacing metal rather than removing it, while engraving creates linear designs in the surface. The two techniques are often combined: repoussé to create the overall form, and engraving to add surface detail and texture.

A loupe is a small, portable magnifying lens used by jewellers and gemologists to examine stones and metalwork at very close range. The standard magnification for gemstone grading is 10x (ten times natural size), as agreed by the international gemological community. Under a 10x loupe, a skilled gemologist can assess a diamond's clarity grade by identifying inclusions and surface blemishes, check the quality of a stone's cut and polish, and look for treatments such as fracture filling. Jewellers also use loupes to examine solder joins, check for metal fatigue or cracks, and inspect the condition of settings and prongs. A good loupe is triplet-corrected, meaning it uses three lenses to eliminate colour and distortion at the edges of the view.

The most effective approach is to connect the words with real objects and images. Visit a jewellery museum, browse auction house catalogues online, or watch jewellery-making videos in English — all of these will show you the vocabulary applied to actual pieces. When you look at a ring, ask yourself what type of setting it uses, how many prongs, whether the stone is cabochon or faceted, and what hallmarks might be present. Reading auction descriptions in English is particularly useful because they use precise technical vocabulary in context. Practise the 20 words above with Flash Cards and Matching Pairs on LexFizz, and revisit them when you encounter jewellery in the real world.