金/钅（jīn；Gold; metals）

Some Chinese scholars consider金 (jīn；Gold) a phonetic-semantic compound, because the ancient script of this character is formed with two characters: 今 （jīn）represents the pronunciation of the character and 土 （tǔ；earth） at the bottom indicates its meaning – a precious metal (gold) that is excavated from the earth. 金’s meaning is not limited to gold however. It refers to all metals and anything related to metal. In the past, gold was considered the most precious of all materials and was used as a standard of currency. As a result, 金 also means money, such in the contemporary Chinese words 现金（xiàn jīn; cash）, 基金 (jī jīn; funds), 美金 (měi jīn; US dollars). As a radical, when it stands on the left of the compound, it is written as钅. It indicates that the character signifies something related to metal such as 铜（tóng；copper）, 铁 (tiě; iron), 铝 (lǚ；aluminum). It is also used to indicate an object that is typically made out of metal, such as 锅（guō ；wok） and 铲（chǎn ；shovel）.