Word.ws English Dictionary

fool's gold

fool's gold noun: a mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold; mainly iron pyrite.

Noun

fool's gold (uncountable)

  1. A mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold; mainly iron pyrite.
  2. (figuratively) Something worthless that deceptively seems valuable.
    • Although many dot-com dreams turned to fool's gold in a short time, in reality, there are a number of entrepreneurial ventures that not only survived but thrived during and after the dot-com crash.2011, Ellen A. Ensher, Susan E. Murphy, Power Mentoring, page 50

fool's gold meaning in Thai

fool's gold in Thai

mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
ทองคนโง่ tɔɔng-kon-ngôo

Origin of fool's gold

From the idea that the mineral fools people (especially those who are fools) into mistakenly thinking that they have found gold. Regarding minerals that were named for deceptive appearance that prompts confusion with others, compare also apatite.

Questions about fool's gold

What does fool's gold mean?
Fool's gold means a mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold; mainly iron pyrite.
What is fool's gold in Thai?
Fool's gold in Thai is ทองคนโง่ (tɔɔng-kon-ngôo). See Fool's gold meaning in Thai.
What part of speech is fool's gold?
Fool's gold is a noun.

Words near fool's gold in the dictionary

  1. fool's cap
  2. fool's cicely
  3. fool's cress
  4. fool's errand
  5. fool's fool
  6. fool's gold
  7. fool's huckleberry
  8. fool's mate
  9. fool's mates
  10. fool's mushroom
  11. fool's paradise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fool's gold (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-fool's gold.wav.

Cite this entry: “fool's gold.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fool%27s_gold. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.