Wordwyrt

nickel

/ˈnɪkəl/NIH-kuhl
/ˈnɪkəl/NIH-kuhl

Meaninggoblin's copper (a miners' nickname)

Common meaning: a hard silvery metal

Journey through time

  1. Germankupfernickel‘copper-nickel’source
  2. Germannickelsource
  3. Englishmeaning shiftscopper-nickel → a hard silvery metalnickel‘a hard silvery metal’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on German kupfernickel ‘goblin's copper (a miners' nickname)’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry COBALT, p. 118 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry NICKEL, p. 392 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • kupfernickel German “goblin's copper (a miners' nickname)”

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