A Certificate Authority (CA) is a trusted entity that manages and issues security certificates and public keys that are used for secure communication in a public network. The CA is part of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) along with the Registration Authority (RA) who verifies the information provided by a requester of a Digital Certificate. If the information is verified as correct, the Certificate Authority can then issue a certificate.
Source: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/29742/certificate-authority-ca