Kanji for Gold

金 is the only character you need for gold, but it carries more than the metal. Read kin it is gold; read kane it is money, and in everyday Japanese that second sense dominates — 料金 (fee), 金額 (amount of money), お金 (money). It is also the general word-part for metal, as in 金属, and it names Friday, 金曜日.

When the metal itself is meant, Japanese usually reaches for a compound rather than the bare character: 黄金 (ōgon, gold), 金色 (kin’iro, gold-colored), 純金 (pure gold), 金メダル (gold medal).

As a single character 金 reads clean and positive — wealth, value, the medal — and it is common in names and surnames. Just be aware that a Japanese reader meeting 金 alone in an ordinary context is at least as likely to think “money” as “the metal.”