guinea

English Online Dictionary. What means guinea‎? What does guinea mean?

English

Etymology

From Guinea, the early modern name for West Africa, the coins originally being made of gold from the region, mostly from the 'Gold Coast' (modern Ghana) and used for African trade, and the guinea fowl being found there.

Its use as an ethnic slur against Italians may be due to their darker complexion compared to others of European descent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪni/
• Rhymes: -ɪni

Noun

guinea (plural guineas)

1. (British, historical) A gold coin originally worth twenty shillings; later (from 1717 until the adoption of decimal currency) standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings.
2. Synonym of guinea fowl
3. (US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent.

Synonyms

• (person of Italian descent): dago, Eyetie, goombah, greaseball, guido, wog, wop

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Arabic: جُنَيْه (junayh)
• → Egyptian Arabic: جنيه (ginēh)
• → Irish: gine
• → Scottish Gaelic: gini
• → Spanish: guinea
• → Welsh: gini

Translations

References

• “guinea”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Finnish

Etymology

From English guinea.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡineɑ/, [ˈɡine̞ɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ineɑ

Noun

guinea

1. guinea (British gold coin)

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡiˈnea/ [ɡiˈne.a]
• Rhymes: -ea
• Syllabification: gui‧ne‧a

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English guinea.

Noun

guinea f (plural guineas)

1. guinea (British gold coin)

Etymology 2

See guineo.

Noun

guinea f (plural guineas)

1. female equivalent of guineo

Adjective

guinea

1. feminine singular of guineo

Further reading

• “guinea”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10