The adsorption of cyanide ion on the gold electrode has been investigated by the subtractively normalized interfacial Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (SNIFTIRS). The observations made by SNIFTIRS were consistent with those obtained by the polarization modulated Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. According to the surface selection rule, cyanide ion appeared to adsorb on gold via either carbon or nitrogen lone pair electrons assuming a perpendicular orientation with respect to the metal surface. The possibility of presence of bridge-bound species seemed very infeasible. From the ab initio quantum mechanical calculation, adsorbate-to-metal bonding appeared to occur mainly via the $5{sigma}$ donation from carbon to Au.