Meaning & use
doubloon
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Meaning
nouncountable
A gold coin that was used in Spain and its colonies from the 16th to the 19th century.
Grammar: Countable: one doubloon, two doubloons.
Patterns
- a doubloon
- a bag of doubloons
- pay in doubloons
The pirate captain buried a chest full of gold doubloons.
In the 18th century, a doubloon was worth about sixteen silver dollars.
The museum displays a rare doubloon from the Spanish treasure fleet.
Word forms
| plural | doubloons |
|---|
Common combinations
- gold doubloon
- The diver found a gold doubloon near the shipwreck.
- Spanish doubloon
- A Spanish doubloon from 1715 was sold at auction.
- pirate doubloon
- In the movie, the treasure included a pile of pirate doubloons.
- a chest of doubloons
- The legend says a chest of doubloons is hidden on the island.
Synonyms and how they differ
- piece of eight
- A Spanish silver coin of the same era, not gold; doubloon is specifically gold.
- gold coin
- A general term; doubloon is a specific historical type.
Word family
- doubloon noun
- The coin itself; no common derived forms.
Commonly confused: doubloon or doubloon?
doubloon vs doubloon
Not to be confused with 'doublure' (a bookbinding term) or 'doubloon' with 'dubloon' (a misspelling).
Practice
Which sentence uses 'doubloon' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A doubloon is a historical gold coin, so it fits in a pirate treasure context. It is not used in modern everyday purchases (B, C) and is not a verb (D).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “doubloon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.