Other forms: medals
A medal is the round metal prize on a ribbon — bronze, silver, or the best one. Win a medal, a gold medal, medal table.
Olympic gold medals are mostly silver with a thin gold plating, and have been since 1912. Military medals are for service or gallantry rather than winning, and are worn in a fixed order. Note medallion, and that the Italian word behind it originally meant a small coin worth half a denarius.
1nounmedalA round metal prize worn on a ribbon.
“She won a gold medal in the swimming race.”
medal is a prize.
Italian medaglia meant a small coin, from a Latin word for half. The sense of a commemorative piece came later.
la-cla
medius
Latin
mediālis — middle
la-eme
medālia
Italian
medaglia
Middle French
medaille
English, today
medal
From Middle English, from Middle French medaille, medale, from Italian medaglia (originally "half a denarius"), from la-eme medālia, feminine derived via dissimilation (/dj–lj/ > /d–lj/) from mediālia, neuter plural of Latin mediālis (“middle”), from la-cla medius.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA