Bullions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of gold or silver piece often valued by weight or purity
2. Precious metal ingots that represent valuable currency based on their mass and metal content
3. Solid metal bars usually crafted from gold or silver, commonly employed in investment and trade

Etymology: The plural "bullions" is simply the form used for quantities of "bullion," so the real story belongs to the singular. Its earliest English form was the Middle English "bulloin" or "bullioun," borrowed from Anglo-Norman. Its exact origin is uncertain, but one proposal links it to French "bouillon," meaning something boiling, which would suggest a sense of metal being melted down. A second theory traces it to French "billon," a term for base or debased metal, which passed into Middle Dutch as "boelioen," meaning base metal. Scholars regard this as a separate word that reached English along a different route, so the two are not the same thing.

Synonyms: gold bars, silver bars