Refine this word faster
Guinea
Definitions
- 1 The coastal region of West Africa between Morocco and the Congo, particularly the north shore of the Gulf of Guinea. historical
- 2 A country in West Africa. Official name: Republic of Guinea.
"Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis’s papacy; and the moderate US cardinal Robert Prevost."
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of guinea, an Italian. US, alt-of, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur
- 1 A gold coin originally worth twenty shillings; later (from 1717 until the adoption of decimal currency) standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings. British, historical
"English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them round your neck—nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in that collection..."
- 2 a west African bird having dark plumage mottled with white; native to Africa but raised for food in many parts of the world wordnet
- 3 Synonym of guinea fowl.
"The guineas peeped complainingly, the goslings waddled into all the puddles and came back to chill my skin."
- 4 (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Italian descent wordnet
- 5 A person of Italian descent. US, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur
"If I’m to tell the whole truth—and why not? I sure have the time!—I’ll have to start by saying I was born Richard Pinzetti, in New York’s Little Italy. My father was an Old World guinea."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings wordnet
Etymology
From Portuguese Guiné + -ia, which is of uncertain origin.
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 people of Anglo-American descent.
See also for "guinea"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: guinea