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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gold.

(uncountable) A heavy yellow elemental metal of great value, with atomic number 79.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. (uncountable) A heavy yellow elemental metal of great value, with atomic number 79.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A coin or coinage made of this material, or supposedly so.

    countable · uncountable
    The pirates were searching for gold.
  3. A deep yellow colour, resembling the metal gold.

    uncountable
  4. The bullseye of an archery target.

    countable
    Daniel hit the gold to win the contest.
  5. A gold medal.

    countable
    France has won three golds and five silvers.
  6. Anything or anyone that is very valuable.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
    That food mixer you gave me is absolute gold, mate!
  7. A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth) made of gold.

    countable · in-plural · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰĺ̥h₃-to-mder. Proto-Germanic *gulþą Proto-West Germanic *golþ Old English gold Middle English gold English gold From Middle English gold, from Old English gold (“gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *golþ, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃tóm (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). Related to yellow; see there for more. Germanic cognates include Scots gowd, Dutch goud, German Gold, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk gull, Danish and Swedish guld, and cognates from other Indo-European languages include Latvian zelts, Russian зо́лото (zóloto), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow, golden”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (hiraṇya).

symbol/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. ☉ (alchemy)

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰĺ̥h₃-to-mder. Proto-Germanic *gulþą Proto-West Germanic *golþ Old English gold Middle English gold English gold From Middle English gold, from Old English gold (“gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *golþ, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃tóm (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). Related to yellow; see there for more. Germanic cognates include Scots gowd, Dutch goud, German Gold, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk gull, Danish and Swedish guld, and cognates from other Indo-European languages include Latvian zelts, Russian зо́лото (zóloto), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow, golden”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (hiraṇya).

adj/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. Made of gold.

    not-comparable · usually
    a gold chain
  2. Having the colour of gold.

    not-comparable · usually
    gold sticker
    gold socks
  3. Premium, superior.

    not-comparable · usually
  4. Of a musical recording, having sold 500,000 copies.

    not-comparable · usually
  5. Subject to or involving a model of open access in which a published article is immediately available for to read for free with no embargo period.

    not-comparable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰĺ̥h₃-to-mder. Proto-Germanic *gulþą Proto-West Germanic *golþ Old English gold Middle English gold English gold From Middle English gold, from Old English gold (“gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *golþ, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃tóm (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). Related to yellow; see there for more. Germanic cognates include Scots gowd, Dutch goud, German Gold, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk gull, Danish and Swedish guld, and cognates from other Indo-European languages include Latvian zelts, Russian зо́лото (zóloto), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow, golden”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (hiraṇya).

verb/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. To appear or cause to appear golden.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰĺ̥h₃-to-mder. Proto-Germanic *gulþą Proto-West Germanic *golþ Old English gold Middle English gold English gold From Middle English gold, from Old English gold (“gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *golþ, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃tóm (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). Related to yellow; see there for more. Germanic cognates include Scots gowd, Dutch goud, German Gold, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk gull, Danish and Swedish guld, and cognates from other Indo-European languages include Latvian zelts, Russian зо́лото (zóloto), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow, golden”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (hiraṇya).

adj/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. In a finished state, ready for manufacturing.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From gold master, a copy of the code certified as being ready for release.

adv/ɡəʊld/Received-Pronunciation[ɡɒʊɫd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡɒld//ɡoʊld/Canada, General-American
  1. of or referring to a gold version of something

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From gold master, a copy of the code certified as being ready for release.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.