Word.ws English Dictionary

ducat

/ˈdʌkət/

ducat noun: a gold coin minted by various European nations.

Noun

ducat (plural ducats)

  1. (historical) A gold coin minted by various European nations.
    • Shylock: "My daughter! O my ducats! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!..."c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • But when the innkeeper saw what kind of goat the lad had, he thought this was a goat worth having, so when the lad had fallen asleep, he took another goat which couldn't make any golden ducats, and put that in its place.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 166
  2. (informal) A coin of the major denomination (dollar, euro, etc.); money in general.
  3. (US, slang) A ticket.
    • Ned Beaumont said, "Well, I've got a ducat that reads to there, anyway.1972 [1931], Dashiell Hammett, “IV. The Dog House”, in The Glass Key, Vintage Books, page 73
    • Customers are usually enticed in with a "ducat", or pass for one free dance.1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 88

Proper noun capitalized: Ducat

Ducat (plural Ducats)

  1. A surname.

ducat meaning in Tamil, Arabic and Malay

ducat in Tamil

பொன் நாணயம், வெள்ளி நாணயம், ஒரு நிகழ்ச்சிக்கான நுழைவுச்சீட்டு, பணம்

ducat in Arabic

historical gold coin
بُنْدُقِي bunduqiy

ducat in Malay

historical gold coin
bunduki

Forms of ducat

Noun
pluralducats
alternative formducket
Proper noun
pluralDucats

Origin of ducat

From Middle French ducat, late Old French ducat, from Old Italian ducato, from Medieval Latin ducātus, from oblique stem of dux (“duke; leader”). Doublet of duchy.

English occupational surname for a moneylender or minter or a nickname for a rich man, from Old French ducat (“name of a gold coin”). Also borrowed from French Ducat.

Words formed from ducat

Questions about ducat

What does ducat mean?
Ducat means a gold coin minted by various European nations.
What is ducat in Tamil?
Ducat in Tamil is பொன் நாணயம், வெள்ளி நாணயம், ஒரு நிகழ்ச்சிக்கான நுழைவுச்சீட்டு. See Ducat meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ducat?
Ducat can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ducat?
Ducat is pronounced /ˈdʌkət/.
What is the plural of ducat?
The plural of ducat is ducats.

Words near ducat in the dictionary

  1. ducally
  2. ducana
  3. Ducas
  4. Ducasse
  5. Ducasses
  6. ducat
  7. ducat gold
  8. ducate
  9. ducates
  10. Ducati
  11. Ducatis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ducat (page history and authors); Ducat (page history and authors); ducat (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ducat.wav.

Cite this entry: “ducat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ducat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.