écu

See also: ecu, ECU, and Ecu.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French écu. Doublet of scutum, escudo, scudo, and scute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪˈkuː/

Noun

écu (plural écus)

1. (historical) A silver coin formerly used in France, with varying values.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 260:

     The court joined in the enthusiasm, and following frequent stagings at Versailles, the king awarded de Belloy a thousand écus and a golden medallion.

Related terms

• cardecue
• escutcheon

Translations

obsolete French unit of currency

• Esperanto: eskudo
• French: écu (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: scudo (it) m
• Spanish: escudo (es) m

Anagrams

• 'cue, CUE, Cue, UCE, cue

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French

Etymology

From Old French escut, inherited from Latin scūtum, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”) or Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, split”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.ky/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: écus

Noun

écu m (plural écus)

1. (historical) shield
2. (historical) écu

Derived terms

• écusson
• écuyer

Descendants

• → English: écu
• → Turkish: ekü

Further reading

• “écu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.