obolus

obolus noun: a silver coin minted in Ancient Greece, valued at a sixth of a drachma. Also the alternative form of obelus.

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Noun

obolus (plural oboli or oboluses)

(Ancient Greece) A silver coin minted in Ancient Greece, valued at a sixth of a drachma.
- I remember one of these who, having received a pretty large sum of money, gave me, when I begged an obolus, a whole talent; on which his friend having reproved him, he answered, with an oath, ‘Why not? Have I not fifty left?’1749, Henry Fielding, A Journey from This World to the Next
- In like manner, "as the Greeks gave the dead man the obolus for Charon's toll [Charon's obol], and the old Prussians furnished him with spending money, to buy refreshment on his weary journey, so to this day German peasants bury a corpse with money in his mouth or hand," and this is also said to be...1872, John Fiske, “The Primeval Ghost-World”, in Myths and Myth-Makers
(historical) A unit of weight, equal to one-sixth of a drachma.
- Dav. […] And after that I met the boy of Chremes
  With fishes, and an obolus of herbs.1870, John Benson Coles Rose, transl., Andria, translation of original by Publius Terentius Afer, Act II, scene 2, page 21

obolus is also the alternative form of obelus.

From Latin obolus, from Ancient Greek ὀβολός (obolós), from ὀβελός (obelós). Doublet of obole and pul.

What does obolus mean?: Obolus means a silver coin minted in Ancient Greece, valued at a sixth of a drachma.
What part of speech is obolus?: Obolus is a noun.
What is the plural of obolus?: The plural of obolus is oboli.

Adapted from Wiktionary: obolus (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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