Terms used in the industry explained

Scintillation - Sparkle is another term to describe scintillation. Scintillation describes the quick flashes of light, resembling colourful, fiery sparks, reflected from a polished diamond.

Dispersion - Fire is another term to describe dispersion. Dispersion describes the flash of different coloured light coming from a diamonds interior. It occurs when white light is separated into its component rainbow colours as light passes through a diamonds facet.

Brilliance - Brilliance is the sparkle and liveliness exhibited by a diamond and occurs when light enters the top of a diamond and is reflected back to the viewer's eye. An ideally cut diamond will have more brilliance for it will reflect more light back to the viewer.

Table/depth percentage - The table is the top most flat part of the stone and the table percentage refers to size of that part in relation to the overall dimension of the diamond expressed as a percentage. The depth is the size of the stone from top to bottom expressed as a percentage in relation to the overall dimension.

Fluorescence - also known as photo-luminescence is the visible emission of light when the stone is exposed to ultraviolet light. It is a common trait in diamonds resulting from the presence of trace amounts of nitrogen a common impurity in diamonds.

Carat - refers to the weight of a diamond NOT the size. 1 carat is equal to 0.2 grams. Click for more info on carat.

Colour - refers to the colour of the diamond. click for more info on colour.

Clarity - refers to the purity of a diamond and I determined according to the presence or lack of any internal or external imperfections. Click for more info on clarity.

Cut - refers not only to its shape but more importantly the cut quality of a diamond. These days cut is used to express the cut quality and shape is used to express the shape of the diamond. click here for info on cut