Klondike

See also: klondike

English

Klondike River (left) flowing into the Yukon River at Dawson City

Etymology

From Klondike, a region in the Yukon territory of Canada that saw a gold rush, named after the Klondike River. A corruption of Hän Tr'ondëk (“hammerstone water”) or Gwich'in throndiuk (“hammer-water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɒnˌdaɪk/
• (father-bother merger) IPA^(key): /ˈklɑnˌdaɪk/

Proper noun

Klondike

1. A river in Yukon, Canada.
2. A region of Yukon, Canada, surrounding the river, in and around Dawson City, replete with goldfields.

   Synonyms: the Klondike, The Klondike

3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Georgia.
   2. An unincorporated community in Hall County, Georgia.
   3. An unincorporated community in Alexander County, Illinois.
   4. An unincorporated community in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
   5. A neighbourhood in eastern Louisville, Kentucky.
   6. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Allegany County, Maryland.
   7. An unincorporated community in St. Charles County, Missouri.
   8. An unincorporated community in Sherman County, Oregon.
   9. An unincorporated community in McKean County, Pennsylvania.
   10. An unincorporated community in Dawson County, Texas.
   11. An unincorporated community in Delta County, Texas.
   12. Former name of Trotti, Texas.
   13. An unincorporated community in Monongalia County, West Virginia.
   14. An unincorporated community in Brighton, Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
   15. An unincorporated community in Brazeau, Oconto County, Wisconsin.
4. (card games) A particular solitaire card game, requiring ordering randomly ordered cards according to rank.

Translations

a region and river in Canada

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克朗代克 (zh) (Kèlǎngdàikè)

• Georgian: კლონდაიკი (ḳlondaiḳi)
• Japanese: クロンダイク (Kurondaiku)
• Russian: Клонда́йк (ru) m (Klondájk)

a card game

• Japanese: クロンダイク (Kurondaiku)
• Tagalog: solitaryo

Noun

Klondike (plural Klondikes)

1. (figuratively) A source of wealth or something else valuable.

   Synonym: klondike

   • 2008 April 14, Mark Landler, “Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     That reality is spreading. Once-sizzling housing markets in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states are cooling rapidly, as nervous Western Europeans stop buying investment properties in Warsaw, Tallinn, Estonia and other real estate Klondikes.

Further reading

• Klondike on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Klondike Gold Rush on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Klondike”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.