Nickels

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A form of currency that refers to five-cent coins commonly used in transactions and savings
2. A unit of money in the United States, made from a blend of nickel and other metals, utilized for small purchases
3. A slang term for money that emphasizes the low denomination of coins used for everyday expenses

Etymology: The coin is named after a metal, and the metal is named after a goblin. German miners in the Erzgebirge found an ore that looked like copper but yielded none, and they blamed a mischievous spirit called "Nickel," a nickname for Nikolaus, or Nicholas. Swedish mineralogist Axel Cronstedt later shortened the ore's name "Kupfernickel," meaning "copper demon," to "nickel" when he isolated the element. The sly sprite became a metal whose silvery sheen had tricked the miners. The word arrived in English as the name of that metal. The five-cent coin took the name later, since the United States minted coins from a copper-nickel alloy, so "nickel" came to mean the coin and then the five-cent amount itself. The plural "nickels" is simply the regular plural of that coin name.

Synonyms: coins