金塊

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: The spelling is 金塊, read きんかい, and it combines 金, meaning gold, with 塊, meaning lump or mass.
• Basic usage: The basic sense of 金塊 is a mass of gold cast or formed into a solid block or bar.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A solid object rather than gold as a material
  • Both examples use the form 金塊. 金 may broadly name the metal or money, whereas 金塊 identifies a concrete mass of gold that can be found, lifted, or displayed.
• A cave discovery and a model on display
  • 冒険小説の主人公は洞窟で金塊を見つけました。 — The hero of the adventure novel found a gold bar in a cave.
  • 展示された金塊の模型は持ち上げられないほど重そうでした。 — The model gold bar on display looked too heavy to lift.