how to say “gold mine” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /]מִכְרֵה זָהָב

לחפור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /] (a simple verb of the root ח.פ.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /]) is to dig. לכרות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /], also a simple verb whose root is כ.ר.ה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /], is to dig a hole in the ground, usually a large one. Thus a mine – a pit up to several miles deep – is a מכרה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /].

And a gold mine? That’s מכרה זהב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /]. You can use it in the literal sense as well as in the figurative, as in:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /]החברה הזאת פשוט יושבת על מכרה זהב.

That company is just sitting on a gold mine.

לכרות also means to cut off something such as the branch of a tree, but this word’s root is כ.ר.ת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/מכרה-זהב-#.m4a” /] so you might think of לכרות – to dig and לכרות – to cut off as two separate words.