Etymology

all that glitters is not gold

Today it means: Things that appear valuable or worthwhile might not actually be so; things that appear nice might not be as good as they appear. Full definition →

Latin nōn omne quod nitet aurum est
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · calque ofnōn omne quod nitet aurum est“not all that shines is gold”
  2. English todayall that glitters is not gold

Calque of Latin nōn omne quod nitet aurum est (“not all that shines is gold”). Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, see quotations.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.