Guinea
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈɡɪni/
Origin
From Guinea, the country in West Africa.
The name comes from the term "aginaw" via Portuguese; it originally meant "black" (or, in context, "land of the blacks.")
Full definition of guinea
Noun
guinea
(plural guineas)- (US, slang, pejorative, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent.
- (British) A gold coin originally worth twenty shillings and originally made from gold imported from Africa; later (from 1717 until the adoption of decimal currency) standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings.
- 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, 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...
- A ground-foraging bird of Africa, of the family Numididae. Domesticated strains include Pearl, White, Buff, Blue, Purple and Lavender. Also called guinea fowl.