coin

See also: COIN, Coin, and cóin

Contents

English

Etymology

A coin.

From Middle English coyn, from Old French coigne (“wedge, cornerstone, die for stamping”), from Latin cuneus (“wedge”). Doublet of cuneus. See also quoin (“cornerstone”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪn
• Homophones: coign, quoin

Noun

coin (countable and uncountable, plural coins)

1. (money) A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
   • 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     ...the coins were of all countries and sizes - doubloons, and louis d'ors, and guineas, and pieces of eight...

2. A token used in a special establishment like a casino (also called a chip).
3. (figuratively) That which serves for payment or recompense.
   • Hammond

     The loss of present advantage to flesh and blood is repaid in a nobler coin.

4. (uncountable, slang, US, African American Vernacular) money in general, not limited to coins

   She spent some serious coin on that car!

5. One of the suits of minor arcana in tarot, or a card of that suit.
6. A quoin; a corner or external angle; a wedge.
7. A small circular slice of food.
   • 2015, Fodor's The Carolinas & Georgia

     For munchies try deep-fried jalapeño coins, jumbo Buffalo wings, and hush puppies with a sweet edge.

8. A cryptocurrency.

   What's the best coin to buy right now?

Derived terms

• coinage
• coin of the realm
• euro coin

Descendants

• → Japanese: コイン (koin)

Translations

(currency) a piece of currency

• Afrikaans: munt (af), muntstuk
• Albanian: monedhë (sq) f
• Amharic: ሣንቲም (śantim)
• Arabic: قِرْش‎ m (qirš), عُمْلَة‎ f (ʿumla)

  Egyptian Arabic: عملة‎ f (ʕumla)

  Hijazi Arabic: قِرْش‎ m (girš), عُمْلَة‎ f (ʿumla)

• Aragonese: moneda f
• Armenian: մետաղադրամ (hy) (metaładram)
• Asturian: moneda f
• Azerbaijani: sikkə
• Bashkir: тәңкә (täñkä), тимер аҡса (aqsa)
• Basque: txanpon
• Belarusian: мане́та f (manjéta)
• Bengali: মুদ্রা (mudra)
• Breton: moneiz (br) f
• Bulgarian: моне́та (bg) f (monéta)
• Burmese: ဒင်္ဂါး (my) (dangga:)
• Catalan: moneda (ca) f
• Chichewa: ndalamayo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 銀, 銀仔 (ngan⁴zai²), 硬幣, 硬币 (ngaang⁶ bai⁶)

  Mandarin: 硬幣 (zh), 硬币 (zh) (yìngbì), 銅錢 (zh), 铜钱 (zh) (tóngqián)

  Min Nan: 銀角仔 (zh-min-nan), 银角仔 (gîn-kak-á/gûn-kak-á)

  Wu: 角子 (koh-tsy), 铅角子 (khae-koh-tsy)

• Czech: mince (cs) f
• Dalmatian: monaita f
• Danish: mønt (da) c
• Dutch: munt (nl) m, muntstuk (nl) n, geldstuk (nl) n
• Esperanto: monero (eo)
• Estonian: münt (et), metallraha
• Faroese: myntur m, mynt f
• Finnish: kolikko (fi)
• French: monnaie (fr) f, pièce (fr) f
• Friulian: monede f
• Galician: moeda (gl) f
• Georgian: მონეტა (moneṭa)
• German: Münze (de) f, Geldstück (de) n
• Gondi: బిల్ల (billa)
• Greek: κέρμα (el) n (kérma), νόμισμα (el) n (nómisma)

  Ancient: κέρμα n (kérma), νόμισμα n (nómisma)

• Gujarati: સિક્કો f (sikko)
• Hebrew: מַטְבֵּעַ‎ (he) m (matbéa')
• Hindi: सिक्का (hi) f (sikkā)
• Hungarian: érme (hu), fémpénz (hu)
• Icelandic: mynt f
• Ido: moneto (io)
• Indonesian: keping (id), kepingan, koin (id)
• Interlingua: moneta, numisma
• Irish: bonn m
• Italian: moneta (it) f
• Japanese: 硬貨 (ja) (こうか, kōka), 玉 (ja) (たま), コイン (ja) (koin)
• Kazakh: монета (moneta), ақша (kk) (aqşa), мәнет (mänet)
• Khmer: កាក់ (km) (kak)
• Korean: 동전 (ko) (dongjeon) (銅錢 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: монета (moneta)
• Lao: ເງິນຕາ (ngœn tā), ບ້ານ (bān), ຫຣຽນ (rīan)
• Latgalian: moneta f
• Latin: nummus m, moneta f
• Latvian: monēta f
• Lithuanian: moneta (lt) f

• Luxembourgish: Mënz f
• Macedonian: монета f (moneta)
• Malay: duit syiling, syiling
• Malayalam: നാണയം (ml) (nāṇayaṃ)
• Maltese: munita f
• Maori: kapa, moni, moni uka, uka
• Marathi: नाणे f (nāṇe), नाणेशास्त्र f (nāṇeśāstra)
• Mon: ခလာန် (həlan)
• Mongolian: зоос (mn) (zoos)
• Navajo: béeso biyázhí
• Nepali: सिक्का (sikkā)
• Norman: pièche f
• Norwegian: mynt (no) m
• Occitan: moneda (oc) f
• Old English: mynet n, sċeatt m
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: سکه‎ (ps) f (seká), دوړی‎ (ps) f (dawṛǝ́y)
• Persian: سکه‎ (fa) (sekke)
• Polish: moneta (pl), bilon (pl)
• Portuguese: moeda (pt) f, prata (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਸਿੱਕਾ f (sikā)
• Romanian: monedă (ro) f
• Romansch: munaida f, muneda f, muneida f
• Russian: моне́та (ru) f (monéta)
• Sardinian: moneda, moneta, muneda
• Scottish Gaelic: bonn m, cùinn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: новчић m, кованица f, монета f

  Roman: novčić (sh) m, kovanica (sh) f, moneta (sh) f

• Sicilian: munita (scn) f
• Sinhalese: කාසියක් (kāsiyak)
• Slovak: minca f
• Slovene: kovanec (sl) m
• Spanish: moneda (es) f
• Swahili: sarafu (sw)
• Swedish: mynt (sv) n
• Tagalog: pera (tl), kuwalta, barya
• Tajik: сикка (sikka), танга (tanga)
• Tamil: நாணயம் (ta) (nāṇayam)
• Telugu: నాణెము (te) (nāṇemu)
• Thai: เหรียญ (th) (rǐian)
• Tibetan: སྒོར་མོ (sgor mo), ཊང་ཀ (ṭang ka)
• Turkish: madenî para (tr), demir para (tr), sikke (tr)
• Turkmen: teňňe, şaýy
• Ukrainian: моне́та f (monéta)
• Urdu: سکہ‎ f (sikkā)
• Uyghur: قويما پۇل‎ (qoyma pul)
• Uzbek: tanga (uz), aqcha (uz)
• Venetian: monéda f, monèa f
• Vietnamese: đồng tiền (vi)
• Volapük: könäd (vo), (gold) goldakönäd, (silver) largentakönäd
• Walloon: manoye (wa) f
• Welsh: bathyn m, bathon m, bathonau m pl
• West Frisian: munt (fy)
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yakut: манньыат (manńıat)
• Yiddish: מטבע‎ f (matbeye)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: uhlamvu class 11/10

a token used in a special establishment like a casino

• Bulgarian: жето́н m (žetón)
• Danish: jeton c
• Finnish: pelimerkki (fi)
• French: jeton (fr) m
• Galician: ficha f
• German: Chip (de) m
• Greek: μάρκα (el) f (márka)
• Hungarian: zseton (hu)

• Lithuanian: žetonas m
• Portuguese: ficha (pt) f
• Russian: жето́н (ru) m (žetón), фи́шка (ru) f (fíška)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жетон m

  Roman: žeton (sh) m

• Swedish: pollett (sv) c

one of the suits of minor arcana in tarot, or a card of that suit

• Finnish: kolikko (fi)

• Swedish: mynt (sv) n, pentagram (sv) n

Verb

coin (third-person singular simple present coins, present participle coining, simple past and past participle coined)

1. To make of a definite fineness, and convert into coins, as a mass of metal; to mint; to manufacture.

   to coin silver dollars; to coin a medal

2. To make or fabricate; to invent; to originate.

   Over the last century the advance in science has led to many new words being coined.

   • Dryden

     Some tale, some new pretense, he daily coined, / To soothe his sister and delude her mind.

3. To acquire rapidly, as money; to make.
   • John Locke

     Tenants cannot coin rent just at quarter day.

Derived terms

• newcoin

Translations

to create coins

• Bulgarian: сека (bg) (seka)
• Catalan: encunyar (ca)
• Czech: razit
• Dutch: munten (nl), aanmunten (nl), munt slaan
• Finnish: lyödä rahaa
• French: frapper une monnaie
• Galician: acuñar (gl), cuñar (gl)
• German: prägen (de)
• Greek: νομισματοκοπώ (nomismatokopó), νομισματοποιώ (el) (nomismatopoió), κερματίζω (el) (kermatízo)
• Hungarian: pénzt ver (hu)

• Icelandic: slá mynt
• Italian: coniare (it), monetare, battere moneta
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: پاره‌لێدان‎ (ku) (parelêdan)

• Polish: bić / wytwarzać monety
• Portuguese: cunhar (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: buail
• Spanish: acuñar (es)
• Swedish: prägla (sv)

to make up or invent, and establish

• Bulgarian: измислям (bg) (izmisljam), изфабрикувам (bg) (izfabrikuvam)
• Catalan: encunyar (ca)
• Czech: razit
• Dutch: verzinnen (nl), smeden (nl), opperen (nl), bedenken (nl)
• Finnish: keksiä (fi), sepittää (fi) (words)
• French: inventer (fr), forger (fr)
• Galician: acuñar (gl)
• Georgian: გამოგონება (gamogoneba)
• German: prägen (de)

• Greek: εφευρίσκω (el) (efevrísko), επινοώ (el) (epinoó), κατασκευάζω (el) (kataskevázo)
• Hungarian: alkot (hu), létrehoz (hu)
• Icelandic: búa til
• Italian: coniare (it)
• Polish: wymyślić (pl), ukuć (wyrażenie, powiedzenie)
• Portuguese: cunhar (pt)
• Spanish: acuñar (es)
• Swedish: mynta (sv)
• Welsh: bathu (cy)

Anagrams

• Nico, cion, coni, icon

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɛ̃/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophone: coing

Etymology 1

From Old French coin, from Latin cuneus (“wedge”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱū (“sting”).

Noun

coin m (plural coins)

1. wedge, cornerpiece
2. corner

   L'église fait le coin.

   The church is just on the corner.

3. area, part, place, spot

   « Je suis le seul robot dans ce coin. »

   "I am the only robot around here."

Derived terms

• du coin (“local”)
• en coin (“from the corner, from the side”)
• petit coin (“loo, toilet”)
• au coin

 

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Interjection

coin

1. quack

Further reading

• “coin” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɪnʲ/

Noun

coin

1. inflection of cú:
   1. (archaic) dative singular
   2. nominative/vocative/dative plural

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
coin	choin	gcoin
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

---

Middle English

Noun

coin

1. Alternative form of coyn (“coin, quoin”)

---

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konʲ/

Noun

coin

1. inflection of cú:
   1. accusative/dative singular
   2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual
   3. nominative plural

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
coin	choin	coin pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

---

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *kunes (compare Welsh cŵn, Cornish keun).

Noun

coin m pl

1. plural of cù (“dog”)