Meaning

noun a coating of gold or of something that looks like gold

verb decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold

adjective having the deep slightly brownish color of gold

originPast participle of gild (“to cover in gold”), thus meaning literally “(something) covered in gold”. Ultimately related to gold (which see). Compare feed, which is related (similarly by ablaut) to food. Cognate with Dutch (ver)guld, Icelandic gyllt and Faroese gylt.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0