sequin

English

50 sequin (sense 1) (c. 1779–89)

gold sequins (sense 2) on a shoe

Etymology

Borrowed from French sequin, from Italian zecchino, from zecca (“mint”), from Arabic سِكَّة (sikka, “die for coining, coin”). Doublet of zecchin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.kwɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

sequin (plural sequins)

2. (now historical) Any of various small gold coins minted in Italy and Turkey.

   Synonym: zecchin

   • 1816, William Beckford, Vathek, Oxford, published 2013, page 10:

     ‘Let him receive as many robes of honour and thousands of sequins of gold as he hath spoken words.’

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     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 pices stamped with what looked like wisps of string or its of spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to ware them round your neck - nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in that collection...

4. (fashion) A sparkling spangle used for the decoration of ornate clothing.

   Synonym: paillette

   • 1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter CVII, in Of Human Bondage:

     His ideas of music-hall costumes had never gone beyond short skirts, a swirl of lace, and glittering sequins; but Miss Antonia had expressed herself on that subject in no uncertain terms.

Derived terms

• sequined

Translations

Italian/Turkish coin

• Esperanto: zekino
• Finnish: sekiini
• German: Zechine (de) f
• Hungarian: zecchino (hu)
• Italian: zecchino (it) m
• Macedonian: це́кин m (cékin)
• Russian: цехи́н (ru) m (cexín)
• Serbo-Croatian: cekin (sh)
• Slovene: cekin
• Spanish: cequí (es) m, sequí m
• Swedish: sekin (sv), dukat (sv)
• Turkish: sikke (tr)

sparkling spangle used for decoration of ornate clothing:

• Bulgarian: пайети (pajeti)
• Czech: pajetka f, bůstka f, cetka f, flitr m
• Esperanto: brilaĵeto sg, zekino
• Finnish: paljetti (fi)
• French: paillettes (fr) f pl
• German: Paillette (de) f, Flitterblättchen n
• Hungarian: flitter (hu)
• Italian: pailette f, lustrino (it) m
• Macedonian: пу́лејка f (púlejka), пуле́лија f (pulélija)
• Malay: labuci
• Maori: kora
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paljett m, paljetter pl

  Nynorsk: paljett m, paljettar pl

• Polish: cekin (pl) m
• Portuguese: lantejoula f
• Romanian: paietă (ro) f
• Russian: блёстка (ru) f (bljóstka)
• Serbo-Croatian: šljokica (sh), pajet
• Spanish: lentejuela (es) f
• Swedish: paljett (sv) c
• Turkish: payet (tr)
• Ukrainian: бли́скітка (uk) f (blýskitka), блискі́тка (uk) f (blyskítka)

Verb

sequin (third-person singular simple present sequins, present participle sequining, simple past and past participle sequined)

1. (transitive) To decorate with sequins.

Further reading

• sequin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sequin in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Quines, quines, sinque

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈsɛ.kin]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈsə.kin]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈse.kin]

Verb

sequin

1. inflection of secar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian zecchino, from zecca (“mint”), from Arabic سِكَّة (sikka, “die for coining, coin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.kɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sequin m (plural sequins)

1. (money) zecchin, sequin
2. sequin

   Synonym: paillette

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• enquis, équins, niques, niqués