Guinea

Definitions

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
2. The coastal region of West Africa between Morocco and the Congo, particularly the north shore of the Gulf of Guinea.
   historical
3. Synonym of guinea fowl.
4. A country in West Africa. Official name: Republic of Guinea.
5. A person of Italian descent.
   US, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur
6. Alternative letter-case form of guinea, an Italian.
   US, alt-of, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“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...”

“However, since there are 488 pages in all for a bargain price of a guinea one must not be too carping.”

“The guineas peeped complainingly, the goslings waddled into all the puddles and came back to chill my skin.”

“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.”

CEFR level