Meanings
- uncountableA mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold; mainly iron pyrite.
- figurativelyuncountableSomething worthless that deceptively seems valuable.
Although many dot-com dreams turned to fool's gold in a short time, in reality, there are a number of entrepreneurial ventures that not only survived but thrived during and after the dot-com crash.
2011, Ellen A. Ensher, Susan E. Murphy, Power Mentoring, page 50
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna common mineral (iron disulfide) that has a pale yellow color
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From the idea that the mineral fools people (especially those who are fools) into mistakenly thinking that they have found gold. Regarding minerals that were named for deceptive appearance that prompts confusion with others, compare also apatite.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan or dels ximples
- or dels ximplesmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Chinese Mandarin 愚人金, 假黃金 /假黄金
- 愚人金 (yúrén jīn)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- 假黃金 /假黄金 (jiǎ huángjīn)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Czech kočičí zlato
- kočičí zlatomineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Danish narreguld
- narreguldmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Dutch gekkengoud, pyriet
- gekkengoudmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- pyrietmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- ijzerkiesmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- klatergoudmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- het goud der dwazenmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Finnish kissankulta, katinkulta
- kissankultamineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- katinkultamineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
French or des fous
- or des fousmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
German Katzengold, Narrengold
- Katzengoldmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- Narrengoldmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Greek σιδηροπυρίτης, χαλκοπυρίτης
- σιδηροπυρίτης (sidiropyrítis)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- χαλκοπυρίτης (chalkopyrítis)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Hungarian bolondok aranya
- bolondok aranyamineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Icelandic glópagull
- glópagullmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Italian oro di Bologna, similoro
- oro di Bolognamineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- similoromineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- oro degli stoltimineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Japanese 愚か者の金, 黄鉄鉱
- 愚か者の金 (orokamono no kin)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- 黄鉄鉱 (outekkou)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Korean 바보의 금
- 바보의 금 (baboui geum)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Norwegian Bokmål svovelkis, pyritt
- svovelkismineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- pyrittmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- narregullmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Portuguese ouro dos tolos
- ouro dos tolosmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Spanish oro de los tontos, oro de los pobres
- oro de los tontosmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- oro de los pobresmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Swedish kattguld, svavelkis
- kattguldmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- svavelkismineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
- pyritmineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Thai ทองคนโง่
- ทองคนโง่ (tɔɔng-kon-ngôo)mineral or other substance often mistaken for gold
Cite this entry
fool's gold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fool's%20gold
“fool's gold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fool's%20gold. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fool's gold,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fool's%20gold.
Source: fool's gold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.