Specie

//ˈspiːʃi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Type or kind, in various uses of the phrase in specie. uncountable
  2. 2
    singular of species form-of, hypercorrect, singular
  3. 3
    coins collectively wordnet
  4. 4
    Money in the form of coins made from precious metal that has an intrinsic value; coinage. uncountable

    "I received one month's pay in specie while on the march to Virginia, in the year 1781, and except that, I never received any pay worth the name while I belonged to the army."

Synonyms

All synonyms
coinageand pencecashcirculating mediumcoincoinage

Antonyms

All antonyms
paper

Example

More examples

"I received one month's pay in specie while on the march to Virginia, in the year 1781, and except that, I never received any pay worth the name while I belonged to the army."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Originally in the phrase in specie; from Latin speciē, ablative singular of species. Compare in kind.

Etymology 2

Back-formation from species (plural), the final “s” being misinterpreted as a plural ending.

Related phrases

specie pointin speciepayment in kind

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.