obolus
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obolus¹
Where it comes from
From Latin obolus, from Ancient Greek ὀβολός (obolós), from ὀβελός (obelós). Doublet of obole and pul.
noun oboli · oboluses · obolos
- A silver coin minted in Ancient Greece, valued at a sixth of a drachma. I remember one of these who, having received a pretty large sum of money, gave me, when I begged an obolus, a whole talent; on which his friend having reproved him, he answered, with an oath, ‘Why not? Have I not fifty left?’
- A unit of weight, equal to one-sixth of a drachma. Dav. […] And after that I met the boy of Chremes With fishes, and an obolus of herbs.
Similar: obol
obolus²
noun oboli · oboluses
- Alternative form of obelus The Globe editors have marked it with the obolus according to their explanation in the preface: "Whenever a lacuna occurs too great to be filled out with any approach to certainty by conjecture, we have marked the passage with an obolus (†)".
Thesaurus
noun
Similar: obol
Translations
Talk about this word "obolus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/obolus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. obolus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/obolus "obolus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/obolus.Cite this
@misc{obolus_2026,
title = {obolus},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/obolus},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
