geld

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛld/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛld

From Middle English geld and reinforced by Medieval Latin geldum, both from Old English geld, ġield (“payment, tribute”), from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”). Probably reinforced by gelt (which see), see Norwegian Bokmål gjeld (“debt”), Danish gæld (“debt”). Geld is also written gelt or gild, and as such found in wergild, Danegeld, etc.

geld (countable and uncountable, plural gelds)

1. (chiefly archaic, dialectal or historical) Money.
   1. (Northern England) A payment.
   2. (historical) In particular, (money paid as) a medieval form of land tax.

geld (third-person singular simple present gelds, present participle gelding, simple past and past participle gelded)

1. (historical) To tax geld.

From Middle English gelden, from Old Norse gelda (“to geld, castrate”), from Proto-Germanic *galdijaną (“to castrate”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to cut”).^[1][2]

Cognate with Old Norse geldr (“yielding no milk, dry”), German galt, gelt (“not giving milk, barren”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌰 (gilþa, “sickle”).^[3] Compare the archaic German Gelze (“castrated swine”) and gelzen (“to castrate”), Danish galt (“castrated boar”) (from Old Norse gǫltr (“boar, hog”), cognate with English gilt and gilde (“to geld”). "gelding" derives from Old Norse geldingr.^[2]

geld (third-person singular simple present gelds, present participle gelding, simple past and past participle gelded or gelt)

1. (transitive) To castrate a male (usually an animal).
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, pages 16–17:

     "Poor old Topaz," said Mrs Flanders, as he stretched himself out in the sun, and she smiled, thinking how she had had him gelded, and how she did not like red hair in men.

2. (transitive, figurative) To deprive of anything essential; to weaken.

geld (plural gelds)

1. A female animal, such as a ewe or cow, that is not pregnant.

• gled

From Dutch geld (“money”), from Middle Dutch gelt, from Old Dutch geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą, cognate with German Geld (“money”), Old Norse gjald (“payment”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild, “tribute”).

• IPA^(key): /χɛlt/

• Audio:

  (file)

geld (plural gelde)

1. (uncountable) money
2. (uncountable) cash, currency

   Synonym: kontant

3. tariff, compensation

• → Sotho: tjhelete
• → Venda: tshelede

• IPA^(key): /ɣɛlt/, (Northern Dutch) [xɛlt], (Southern Dutch) [ɣɛlt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: geld
• Rhymes: -ɛlt

From Middle Dutch gelt, gheld, ghelt, from Old Dutch geld, from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”).

geld n (plural gelden)

1. money

   Synonyms: doekoe, poen

• Afrikaans: geld
  • → Sotho: tjhelete
  • → Venda: tshelede
• Jersey Dutch: xjäält, xält
• Negerhollands: geld, gelt
• Skepi Creole Dutch: galti

From Middle Dutch gelde, probably borrowed from Old Norse geldr (“barren, yielding no milk”), from Proto-Germanic *galdaz, *galdijaz (“barren, unfruitful”). The ultimate origin is uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to cut”),^[1] or from *gʰel- (“to shout, cry”).^[2]

geld (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, of female animals) not pregnant

   Antonym: drachtig

2. (obsolete, of fish) male

• gelt (obsolete)

• → West Frisian: geld

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

geld

1. inflection of gelden:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

geld

1. first-person singular present indicative of gjalda

• IPA^(key): /jeld/, [jeɫd]

ġeld n

1. alternative form of ġield

Strong a-stem:

• IPA^(key): [ɡɛl(d)]

geld (comparative mair geld, superlative maist geld)

1. alternative form of yeld