golden
pronunciation
How to pronounce golden in British English:
UK [ˈɡəʊldən]
How to pronounce golden in American English:
US [ˈɡoʊldən]
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- Adjective:
- having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
- marked by peace and prosperity
- made from or covered with gold
- supremely favored or fortunate
- suggestive of gold
- very favorable or advantageous
Word Origin
- golden (adj.)
- c. 1300, "made of gold," from gold (n.) + -en (2); replacing Middle English gilden, from Old English gyldan. Gold is one of the few Modern English nouns that form adjectives meaning "made of ______" by adding -en (as in wooden, leaden, waxen, olden); those that survive often do so in specialized senses. Old English also had silfren "made of silver," stænen "made of stone," etc. From late 14c. as "of the color of gold." Figurative sense of "excellent, precious, best, most valuable" is from late 14c.; that of "favorable, auspicious" is from c. 1600. Golden mean "avoidance of excess" translates Latin aurea mediocritas (Horace). Golden age "period of past perfection" is from 1550s, from a concept found in Greek and Latin writers; in sense of "old age" it is recorded from 1961. San Francisco Bay's entrance channel was called the Golden Gate by John C. Fremont (1866). The moralistic golden rule earlier was the golden law (1670s). Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them [Matt. vii:12] Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. [George Bernard Shaw, 1898]
Example
- 1. He had fair , straight hair and golden eyelashes .
- 2. Don 't kill the golden goose , they say .
- 3. H / 7v2the star washed up on the bright , golden sand .
- 4. But guam 's elected officials and tourism industry see a golden opportunity .
- 5. Golden dawn is europe 's most recently successful far-right party .