དངུལ
dngul/*dŋul/
The Tibetan word for "money" is དངུལ (dngul).
དངུལ refers to currency.
Meaning: currency (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
To refer specifically to coins or small change, the term དངུལ་ཆ་ is often used. For electronic money or digital currency, the term དངུལ་འཕྲུལ་ can be used.
How do you pronounce it?
The word is pronounced /dŋul/.
Did you know?
- In the traditional Tibetan barter system, tea bricks were often used as a form of དངུལ. These compressed tea blocks were standardized in size and could be traded for other goods across the Himalayas.
- The word དངུལ shares its root meaning with 'silver'. In traditional Tibetan culture, money was identified specifically by the precious metal it was made of rather than as an abstract concept of value.
- Historically, some Tibetan regions used 'cowrie shells' as a form of དངུལ before the adoption of metal coins, a practice that mirrored ancient currency systems in Asia and Africa.
Examples in context
- ཁོང་ལ་དངུལ་མང་པོ་འདུག་། ཡིན་ནའང་ཁོང་སྐྱིད་པོ་མི་འདུག་།He has money, but he's not happy.This sentence is useful for showing the contrast between having དངུལ and being happy.Tatoeba #2381525 by urusu_tom, translation #1466752 by CK
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about buying a gift.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoརིནཅེན་ལགས། ཁྱེད་ལ་དངུལ་འདུག་གམ།Rinchen-la, khyed la ngul dug gamRinchen, do you have money?
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenལགས་སོ། ང་ལ་དངུལ་འདུགlak so, nga la ngul dugYes, I have money.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoའདི་ལ་དངུལ་ག་ཚོད་དགོས།di la ngul ga tshod gosHow much money is needed for this?
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenདངུལ་ཉེར་བརྒྱ་དགོས།ngul nyer bgya gosIt needs twenty hundred (two thousand) money.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “money” translations and entries དངུལ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
