Meaning & use
gelt
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Meanings
noununcountable
Chocolate coins wrapped in gold or silver foil, traditionally given as gifts during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'some gelt' or 'a piece of gelt', not 'a gelt'.
Patterns
- Hanukkah gelt
- chocolate gelt
- a piece of gelt
Every Hanukkah, my grandmother gives the children chocolate gelt.
He spun the dreidel and won a handful of gelt.
The shop sells gelt in small mesh bags.
noununcountableslanghumorous
Money (slang, from Yiddish, sometimes used humorously).
Grammar: Uncountable and informal; often used in a joking or old-fashioned way.
Patterns
- make some gelt
- a lot of gelt
He's only in it for the gelt.
They made a pile of gelt in the dot-com years.
Common combinations
- Hanukkah gelt
- The children exchanged Hanukkah gelt after lighting the candles.
- chocolate gelt
- She bought a bag of chocolate gelt for the party.
- a piece of gelt
- He gave each child a piece of gelt.
- gelt and dreidels
- The table was covered with gelt and dreidels.
- wrap gelt in foil
- They wrap gelt in shiny foil to look like coins.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Hanukkah money
- A literal English phrase for the same custom, but less common than 'gelt'.
- chocolate coins
- The general term for foil-wrapped chocolate coins; 'gelt' specifically refers to the Hanukkah tradition.
Commonly confused: gelt or geld? gelt or gilt?
gelt vs geld
To geld an animal means to castrate it; 'gelt' is a noun for chocolate coins or money.
gelt vs gilt
Gilt is a thin layer of gold or a type of bond; it sounds similar but has a different meaning.
Practice
What is 'gelt' traditionally given during Hanukkah?
Choose one answer.
'Gelt' refers to chocolate coins wrapped in foil, given as gifts during Hanukkah. Paper money is not the traditional form, wooden tops are dreidels, and candles are used for the menorah.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gelt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.