Zorkmid
A zorkmid is a single unit of currency. A gold piece, $, has the value of 1 zorkmid.
"Gold piece" and "zorkmid" are used similarly but slightly different throughout NetHack. For example, when you pick up money lying on the floor, you receive the message, "# gold piece(s)", but when you pick up an item in a shop, you receive the message, "x- an [item] (unpaid, # zorkmids)". The difference is that the zorkmid is the currency and gold pieces are the coinage.
Gold pieces are a special type of object: they have weight and take up an inventory slot when dropping items, but have no BUC status. The inventory slot they occupy is never fixed, it is just the next available letter. If there are no free inventory slots the gold pieces go into #. Their symbol is $, although this should not be taken to mean the zorkmid exchange rate is pegged to the US dollar. The abbreviations zm and zk are sometimes appended to a number as a currency symbol.
Weight
A gold piece weighs 0.01 "weight units". Since these units have no name, it is common to consider 100 gold pieces the base unit of weight. All weight figures given in spoilers and on this wiki are in units of 100 gold pieces.
Origin
The name "zorkmid" originates from the Zork series of text adventures.
