zelts

See also: Zelts

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *želtas (“gold”), itself from *žel-t-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). (From a variant *gʰel-, *gʷʰel- comes dzeltens (“yellow”), which was also the original meaning of the adjectival form of zelts.) Cognates include dialectal Lithuanian želtas (“golden, blond”), Old Prussian sealtmeno (/⁠zealtmeno⁠/, “oriole (yellow bird)”) (from *zēltmeno), Proto-Slavic *zolto (Old Church Slavonic злато (zlato), Ukrainian зо́лото (zóloto), Belarusian зо́лата (zólata), Bulgarian злато́ (zlató), Czech zlato, Polish złoto), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “to be yellow, green”), Proto-Germanic *gulþą (Old Norse gull, Old High German gold, German Gold, Dutch goud, Swedish guld, English gold); compare also Persian زر (zar), Northern Kurdish zêrr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [zæ̀lts]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Chemical element
Au
Previous: platīns (Pt)
Next: dzīvsudrabs (Hg)

zelts m (1st declension)

1. gold (chemical element)

   tīrradņa zelts ― gold nuggets

   zelta rūda ― gold ore

   zelta hlorīds ― gold chloride

   zelta monēta, gredzens, pulkstenis, medaļa ― gold coin, ring, clock, medal

2. golden (having the color of gold)

   zelta dzeltens, zeltdzeltens ― golden yellow

   zelta zivtiņa ― golden fish

3. golden (very good, top quality, the best of its kind)

   viņš ir zelts, ne cilvēks ― he is gold, not a person

   zelta cilvkēs ― golden person

   zelta vārdi ― golden words

   zelta dzīve ― golden life

   zelta kāzas ― golden anniversary (50th wedding anniversary)

Declension

Declension of zelts (1st)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative	zelts	—
genitive	zelta	—
dative	zeltam	—
accusative	zeltu	—
instrumental	zeltu	—
locative	zeltā	—
vocative	zelt	—

Derived terms

• zeltains