ducat

See also: Ducat, ducât, and dūcat

English

Etymology

From Middle French ducat, late Old French ducat, from Old Italian ducato, from Medieval Latin ducatus, from oblique stem of dux (“duke; leader”). Doublet of duchy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌkət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌkət

Noun

ducat (plural ducats)

1. (historical) A gold coin minted by various European nations.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii]:

     Shylock: "My daughter! O my ducats! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!..."

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 166:

     But when the innkeeper saw what kind of goat the lad had, he thought this was a goat worth having, so when the lad had fallen asleep, he took another goat which couldn't make any golden ducats, and put that in its place.

2. (informal) A coin of the major denomination (dollar, euro, etc.); money in general.
3. (US, theater, transport, slang) A ticket.
   • 1972 [1931], Dashiell Hammett, “IV. The Dog House”, in The Glass Key, Vintage Books, page 73:

     Ned Beaumont said, "Well, I've got a ducat that reads to there, anyway.

   • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 88:

     Customers are usually enticed in with a "ducat", or pass for one free dance.

   • 1949 June 11, Billboard:

     […] the lines at the box office since ducats went on sale publicly Wednesday […]

Translations

historical gold coin

• Arabic: بُنْدُقِي (bunduqiy)
• Catalan: ducat (ca) m
• Czech: dukát (cs) m
• Dutch: dukaat (nl) m
• Finnish: dukaatti
• French: ducat (fr) m
• Galician: ducado m
• German: Dukat m
• Hungarian: dukát (hu), aranypénz (hu), aranyérme (hu), arany (hu)
• Interlingua: ducato (ia)
• Italian: ducato (it) m
• Ladino:

  Latin: dukado m

• Macedonian: дукат m (dukat)
• Malay: bunduki
• Polish: dukat (pl) m
• Portuguese: ducado (pt) m
• Romanian: ducat (ro) m
• Russian: дука́т (ru) m (dukát)
• Serbo-Croatian: dukat (sh) m
• Spanish: ducado (es) m
• Turkish: düka (tr)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [duˈkat]

Noun

ducat m (plural ducats)

1. duchy

Derived terms

• gran ducat

Related terms

• duc

Further reading

• “ducat” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, from late Old French, borrowed from Italian ducato, from Medieval Latin ducātus, from dux (“duke; leader”). Compare also duché.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dy.ka/

Noun

ducat m (plural ducats)

1. (numismatics) ducat

Descendants

• → Turkish: düka

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

dūcat

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of dūcō

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ducatus.

Noun

ducat m (plural ducats)

1. duchy

Related terms

• duc
• ducal, ducau

Further reading

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 252.

Old French

Etymology

Late Old French. From Italian ducato, from Medieval Latin ducatus, from oblique stem of dux (“duke; leader”).

Noun

ducat oblique singular, m (oblique plural ducaz or ducatz, nominative singular ducaz or ducatz, nominative plural ducat)

1. ducat (historical coin)

Descendants

• → English: ducat
• French: ducat

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ducato. By surface analysis, duce +‎ -at.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duˈkat/

Noun

ducat n (plural ducate)

1. dukedom, duchy

Declension

Declension of ducat

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ducat	ducatul	(niște) ducate	ducatele
genitive/dative	(unui) ducat	ducatului	(unor) ducate	ducatelor
vocative	ducatule		ducatelor

Noun

ducat m (plural ducați)

1. (numismatics) ducat

Declension

Declension of ducat

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ducat	ducatul	(niște) ducați	ducații
genitive/dative	(unui) ducat	ducatului	(unor) ducați	ducaților
vocative	ducatule		ducaților

Further reading

• ducat in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dùːt͡sat/, /dúːt͡sat/

Noun

dūcat m inan

1. dozen, 12

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	dūcat
gen. sing.	dūcata
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	dūcat	dūcata	dūcati
genitive (rodȋlnik)	dūcata	dūcatov	dūcatov
dative (dajȃlnik)	dūcatu	dūcatoma	dūcatom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	dūcat	dūcata	dūcate
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	dūcatu	dūcatih	dūcatih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	dūcatom	dūcatoma	dūcati

Further reading

• “ducat”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “ducat”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references