Gilt

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Pronunciation: /ɡɪlt/

Definitions

1. Covered or decorated with a thin coating of gold ; a young female pig that has not yet produced offspring
2. Having a surface layer of gold applied to it, giving a shiny golden appearance ; a female pig before it has birthed any piglets
3. Finished with a delicate sheet of gold or gold paint ; a juvenile female pig that has not yet farrowed

Etymology: Gilt began as the past participle of "gild", the verb meaning to cover something in gold. A gilded object is one that has been gilded, so the adjective describes the finished result of that action. The verb and the adjective are closely tied to "gold" itself, which is the root both grew from. The pig sense is a separate and surprising story. It came into English from Old Norse "gyltr", meaning a young sow, and it has nothing to do with gold. The two words simply met in Middle English and the spellings merged, so a young female pig and a gleaming surface now share one form. Related forms in other Germanic languages, such as Dutch "verguld" and Icelandic "gyllt", keep the golden sense, showing how the verb spread across the family. The pig word, by contrast, survives in English mainly in farming usage.

Synonyms: gold-leafed, gold-plated, golden

Antonyms: ungilded