gold

1 of 2

noun

ˈgōld 

plural golds

1

: a yellow metallic element with atomic number 79 that occurs naturally in pure form and is used especially in coins, jewelry, and electronics see Chemical Elements Table

2

a(1)

: gold coins

(2)

: a gold piece

b

: money

c

: gold standard sense 1

3

: a variable color averaging deep yellow

4

: something resembling gold

especially : something valued as the finest of its kind

a heart of gold

5

: a medal awarded as the first prize in a competition : a gold medal

gold

2 of 2

adjective

1

: made of or containing gold

a gold ring/watch

a gold mine

2

: having a gold color : golden

gold eyes

an orange and gold cat

a blue shirt with gold stripes

3

: qualifying for a gold record

Phrases

go gold

: to have enough sales to qualify for a gold record

the album went gold

Synonyms

Noun

• bread [slang]
• bucks
• cabbage [slang]
• cash
• change
• chips
• coin
• currency
• dough
• green
• jack [slang]
• kale [slang]
• legal tender
• lolly [British]
• long green [slang]
• loot
• lucre
• money
• moola [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• pelf
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of gold in a Sentence

Noun

diamonds in a setting of 24-karat gold

What is the price of gold?

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Also adding visibility to the collections, in September, seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles made a statement in Miu Miu sunglasses at the 2024 U.S. Open for men’s and women’s quarterfinal matches. —Luisa Zargani, WWD, 19 Dec. 2024

Find more sequin jumpsuits, plus blanket scarves and gold clutches that remind us of Oprah’s recent look at Gayle King’s birthday party below. —Nicol Natale, People.com, 19 Dec. 2024

Adjective

These snippets are like gold dust to concerned health and social care professionals—hoping to do the right thing when the default is often invasive intervention. —Mark Taubert, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024

Used here in a recent project for a client's elevator [pictured above], the way the color really pops against the gold details of the lift is just something that really sings to the eye; there is a sense of balance and harmony. —Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 20 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, going back to Old English, neuter strong noun, going back to Germanic *gulþa-/*gulđa- (with varying accentuation, whence also Old Frisian, Old Saxon, and Old High German gold "gold," Old Norse gull, goll, Gothic gulþ), going back to dialectal Indo-European *ǵhl̥(h₃)-to-, with full-grade ablaut *ǵhel(h₃)-to- (in Latvian zȩ̀lts "gold," Old Prussian sealtmeno "oriole") and o-grade *ǵhol(h₃)-to- (in Slavic *zȍlto, whence Old Church Slavic zlato "gold," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian zlâto, Polish złoto, Russian zóloto), all derivatives with the adjectival suffix *-to- from Indo-European *ǵhelh₃- "yellow, green" — more at yellow entry 1

Note: The formation of a word for "gold" from a *-to- derivative of Indo-European *ǵhelh₃- "yellow, green" is peculiar to Germanic, Slavic, and, in part, Baltic. An Indo-Iranian word for "gold" is formed with different suffixation from the same root: *ǵhl̥h₃-en-i̯o-, whence Sanskrit híranya- "gold," Avestan zarańiia-. A full display of forms in medieval and modern languages and loans into non-Indo-European languages is contained in the article "Indo-European 'Gold' in Time and Space" by Václav Blažek, Journal of Indo-European Studies, vol. 45, No. 3 (fall/winter 2017), pp. 267-311.

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing gold

• as good as gold
• basket-of-gold
• black gold
• fool's gold
• go gold
• going for the gold
• gold coast
• gold digger
• gold-filled
• gold leaf
• gold medal
• gold mine
• gold of pleasure
• gold-plated
• gold record
• gold rush
• gold standard
• heart of gold
• old gold
• pot of gold
• strike gold
• the gold standard
• white gold
• worth one's weight in gold

Kids Definition

gold

noun

ˈgōld

1

: a soft yellow metallic element that is used especially in coins and jewelry see element

2

a

: gold coins

b

: money sense 1a

3

: a deep yellow

4

: a medal awarded as the first prize in a competition : a gold medal

gold adjective

Medical Definition

gold

noun

ˈgōld 

often attributive

: a malleable ductile yellow metallic element that occurs chiefly free or in a few minerals and is used especially in coins, jewelry, and dentures and in the form of its salts (as gold sodium thiomalate) especially in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

—symbol Au see Chemical Elements Table