Genuine article, the makings of echt unit (9)
I believe the answer is:
authentic
'genuine' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'article the makings of echt unit' is the wordplay.
'article the makings' becomes 'a' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'of' is an anagram indicator (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'echt'+'unit'='echtunit'
'echtunit' with letters rearranged gives 'uthentic'.
'a'+'uthentic'='AUTHENTIC'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for authentic that I've seen before include "Real, genuine" , "Bona fide" , "reliable" , "Genuine, not a copy" , "Ian, the cut is genuine" .)