assignat

See also: assignât

English

Etymology

From French assignat.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈasɪɡnat/, /asɪˈnja/

Noun

assignat (plural assignats)

1. (now historical) A banknote used during the French Revolution, on the security of state land. [from 18th c.]
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 196:

     If the landed man wishes to mortgage, he falls the value of his land, and raises the value of assignats.

   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 387:

     [O]n her request for money, I took out a parcel of assignats I had in my pocket.

   • 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 25:

     He was in favour of a national bank; he was strongly opposed to the reckless issue of assignats and spoke against it in the Assembly.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 508:

     The continuing depreciation of the assignat was worsening problems: in November and December, the currency's cash return dipped below 1 per cent of its face value, bringing a comic aspect to many exchanges and inducing street beggars to decline alms in paper form.

Translations

Translations

• Polish: asygnata (pl) f

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ə.siŋˈnat]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [a.siŋˈnat]
• Rhymes: -at

Participle

assignat (feminine assignada, masculine plural assignats, feminine plural assignades)

1. past participle of assignar

French

Etymology

From assign(er) +‎ -at.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.si.ɲa/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

assignat m (plural assignats)

1. (historical) assignat

Further reading

• “assignat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

assignat

1. third-person singular present active indicative of assignō