medal

English

The National Geographic Society's "Hubbard Medal"

Etymology

From Middle French medaille, medale, from Italian medaglia, from Late Latin medalia (“half a denarius”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: mĕdʹ-əl, IPA: /ˈmɛdəl/, X-SAMPA: /"mEd@l/
  • (Australia) IPA: [ˈmeɾ.ɫ̩], X-SAMPA: ["me4.5]
  • Homophones: meddle, metal, mettle
  • (UK) IPA: [ˈmɛd.ɫ̩], X-SAMPA: ["mEd.5]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Homophone: meddle
  • (US) IPA: [ˈmɛɾ.ɫ̩], X-SAMPA: ["mE4.5]
  • Homophones: meddle, metal, mettle
• Rhymes: -ɛdəl

Noun

medal (plural medals)

1. A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.i.3:

     Whether their images, shrines, relics, consecrated things, holy water, medals, benedictions, those divine amulets, holy exorcisms, and the sign of the cross, be available in this disease?

2. A stamped or cast metal object (usually a disc), particularly one awarded as a prize or reward.

Derived terms

• gold medal — a medal designed for first-place winners
• silver medal — a medal designed for second-place winners
• bronze medal — a medal designed for third-place winners

Translations

stamped metal disc

• Afrikaans: medalje (af)
• Arabic: ميدالية (ar) (midālíyya) f
• Armenian: մեդալ (hy) (medal)
• Belarusian: медаль (be) (medál’) f
• Breton: medalenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: медал (bg) (medál) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獎章 (cmn), 奖章 (cmn) (jiǎngzhāng)

• Czech: medaile (cs) f
• Danish: medalje (da) c
• Dutch: medaille (nl) m and f, erepenning (nl) f
• Esperanto: medalo (eo)
• Finnish: mitali (fi)
• French: médaille (fr) f
• Georgian: მედალი (ka) (medali)
• German: Medaille (de) f
• Hungarian: medália (hu)
• Italian: medaglia (it) f

• Japanese: 賞牌 (ja) (しょうはい, shōhai), メダル (ja) (medaru), 勲章 (ja) (くんしょう, kunshō)
• Korean: 메달 (ko) (medal)
• Latin: medalis (la)
• Persian: مدال (fa) (medâl)
• Polish: medal (pl) m
• Portuguese: medalha (pt) f
• Romanian: medalie (ro) f
• Russian: медаль (ru) (medál’) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: медаља (sh) f

  Roman: medalja (sh) f

• Sotho: metlele (st)
• Spanish: medalla (es) f
• Swedish: medalj (sv) c
• Turkish: madalya (tr)
• Ukrainian: медаль (uk) (medál’) f
• Vietnamese: huy chương (vi), mề đay (vi)

Related terms

• medallic
• medallion
• medallist
• medallurgy
• medalet

Verb

medal (third-person singular simple present medals, present participle medaling or medalling, simple past and past participle medaled or medalled)

1. (sports, very colloquial) To win a medal.

   "He medalled twice at the Olympics"

   • 2013 January 13, Elizabeth Alderfer as Anna, “Je Ne Sais What?”, The Good Wife season 4 episode 12:

     I wanted to medal. I was pregnant and I wanted to medal.

Anagrams

• lamed

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Crimean Tatar

Noun

medal

1. medal.

Declension

    declension of medal

nominative	medal
genitive	medalniñ
dative	medalge
accusative	medalni
locative	medalde
ablative	medalden

References

• Useinov & Mireev Dictionary, Simferopol, Dolya, 2002 [1]

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Polish

Medals engraved by Polish artist Zbigniew Kotyłło

Etymology

From French médaille

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɛdal/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

medal m

1. medal

Declension

    declension of medal

	singular	plural
nominative	medal	medale
genitive	medalu	medali
dative	medalowi	medalom
accusative	medal	medale
instrumental	medalem	medalami
locative	medalu	medalach
vocative	medalu	medale

Derived terms

• medalowy