The gold rush turned the remote valley into a sudden economic ____ for miners.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new gold mine was a ____ for the small and poor village city.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der.
Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκός (mălăkós)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂
Proto-Hellenic *-íā
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)
Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ (mălăkĭ́ā)bor.
Latin malacia
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Latin bonusinflu.
Vulgar Latin *bonacia
Spanish bonanzabor.
English bonanza
Borrowed from Spanish bonanza (“dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode”), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia (“lull, dead calm”), in turn from Latin malacia (“calm sea”), influenced by bonus (“good”) under the false impression that initial mal- is a derivate of malus (“bad”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"For two decades the bonanza on Scotland’s west coast continued. An occupation that had been seasonal and modestly profitable became year-round and lucrative. Baskets of herring put televisions into fishermen’s cottages and cars outside their doors. But fish, like oil and gas, with which Scotland’s continental shelf is also well-endowed, are not in unlimited supply."
— 2013 August 31, Bagehot, “The parable of the Clyde”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8851:
"It has also yielded a bonanza for corporate executives and other shareholders: Money not spent filling warehouses with unneeded auto parts is, at least in part, money that can be given to shareholders in the form of dividends."
— 2021 March 26, Peter S. Goodman, “In Suez Canal, Stuck Ship Is a Warning About Excessive Globalization”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"His [D. Trump's] domestic policy bill allocated a record $1 trillion to defense in 2026, including for technology such as autonomous drones. Silicon Valley executives and venture capitalists are eagerly eying that bonanza."
— 2025 August 4, Sheera Frenkel, “The Militarization of Silicon Valley”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC: