guinea

noun

guin·​ea ˈgi-nē 

1

: an English gold coin issued from 1663 to 1813 and fixed in 1717 at 21 shillings

2

: a unit of value equal to one pound and one shilling

Examples of guinea in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The man who had driven me and my parents back from the hospital came all the way from Sheffield for the occasion, with his wife and son, as did the couple who had given me the guinea. —Jhumpa Lahiri, New Yorker, 30 June 2025

At auction, a single orchid once fetched 650 guineas, more than $120,000 today. —Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025

The number of cases of guinea worm has been reduced from 3.5 million in 1986 to 14 in 2023. —Cary Goodman, New York Daily News, 5 Jan. 2025

Children in Southern Sudan collect drinking water from a pond using filters provided by the Carter Center’s guinea worm eradication program, on Nov. 4, 2010.Maggie Fick / AP file The World Health Organization’s goal is to eradicate Guinea worm disease by 2030. —Evan Bush, NBC News, 31 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Guinea, Africa, supposed source of the gold from which it was made

First Known Use

1664, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for guinea

• finny
• ginny
• jinny
• mini
• minnie
• ninny
• pinnae
• skinny
• spinney
• swinney
• tinny
• whinny

Kids Definition

guinea

noun

guin·​ea ˈgin-ē 

1

: an English gold coin no longer issued worth 21 shillings

2

: a former unit of value equal to 21 shillings

Geographical Definition

Guinea

geographical name

Guin·​ea ˈgi-nē 

variants or French Guinée

gē-ˈnā 

1

region of western Africa bordering on the Atlantic from Gambia (on the north) to Angola (on the south)

2

or formerly French Guinea republic in western Africa bordering on the Atlantic; formerly a territory of French West Africa; capital Conakry area 94,926 square miles (245,857 square kilometers), population 11,855,000

Guinean

ˈgi-nē-ən 

adjective or noun