Is money お金 or 金

Here comes the money...

When you start getting a feel for Japanese, questions start to pop up in your head. 

One of those questions can be the difference of お金（おかね） & 金（かね）and such words in general. 

What’s the difference?

お(as well asご) as a prefix of a noun can be used to give an extra dimension or aesthetic aspects to the noun. 

When I say dimension, I mean in terms of politeness. 

お金　and  金

• Money signifies royalty, power, and fruitfulness in Japanese culture. This isn’t necessarily about paper money, but more about gold ( maybe that’s why the word Zipangu exists ). It also symbolises rich heritage and social status. In short, it’s something to be revered and respected. 

That’s why most people grow up saying お金 rather than just 金 since everyone else does the same. Perhaps 金 gets used when respect for money vanishes; people who deal with huge amounts of money on a daily basis; CEO’s or owners of a million-dollar companies. Well, you get the point. 

So, お金 is a word that’s sort of kept its culture through modern times and will most likely remain so. This may be the best bet when referring to money. 

• This is very similar when referring to parents as ご両親 instead of just 両親.  But when one refers to their own parents, just 両親 is used. 

As far as aesthetic aspects goes, we’ll take a look at 店 and お店

店（みせ）as we know refers to ‘ stores ‘ in general. This is when we take it as something very neutral and have indifferent feeling towards it. When we put importance on a certain store ( it could even be several stores) and want to set it apart from the rest, お店 is used. It also adds this touch of fanciness. I’m going to a store, not just any store but that special awesome store I always enjoy being at. 

いつものお店に行ってきます。

See you later, I’ll be going to the usual store(that fancy awesome store full of goodies and treats!!) 

• Also, when you want to talk about a certain possession of someone, お can be used to signify that person’s possession. To give some care to their possession. 

これはあなたのお財布ですよ。　

This is your wallet/purse 

The best way to imagine お・ご　is to think of an angel carrying this fluffy soft blanket and trying to cover a naked baby with it.