noun
nickel
NIHK-uhl
noun
1
A hard, silvery-white metallic element (symbol Ni, atomic number 28), often used in alloys and plating.
"The coin is made from a copper-nickel alloy."
2
An American or Canadian coin worth five cents.
"He dug a nickel out of his pocket to pay the meter."
How to Use Nickel
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither the metallic element, or the American five-cent coin named after it.
Common pairings
nickel and dime
nickel-plated
not worth a nickel
Word Forms
nickeled past tense, nickelled past tense, nickels plural, nickels singular
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The coin is made from a copper-_____ alloy.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Nickel, shortened from Kupfernickel ("copper-nickel", literally "copper goblin"), because the ore looked like it contained copper but yielded none — miners blamed a mischievous spirit named after Nikolaus (Nicholas).