# Origin of "pay dirt"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pay-dirt/269854>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 18, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pay-dirt/269854 "2004-10-18T16:56:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BillClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@BillClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BillClay)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pay-dirt/269854/1 "2004-10-18T16:56:04Z")

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Does anyone know where this phrase originated?

Just curious.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pay-dirt/269854/2 "2004-10-18T16:58:36Z")

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Prospecting and mining.

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pay-dirt/269854/3 "2004-10-18T17:13:33Z")

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paydirt  
“profit, success,” 1873, from pay + dirt; a word from mining, where it was used in a literal sense from 1856.

From [here](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=p&p=7)