shilling

See also: Shilling and schilling

English

1955 British shilling coin

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪŋ
• Hyphenation: shil‧ling

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH-der.

Proto-Germanic *skiljaną

Proto-Indo-European *-lósder.

Proto-Germanic *-ilaz

Proto-Indo-European *-n̥kʷo-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Germanic *-īnaz

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Germanic *-gaz

?

Proto-Germanic *-ingaz

Proto-Germanic *-ilingaz

Proto-Germanic *skillingaz

Old English sċilling

Middle English schilling

English shilling

From Middle English schilling, shilling, from Old English sċilling, from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz, equivalent to skill +‎ -ing. Doublet of scalding and schilling.

Compare typologically Russian рубль (rublʹ) (akin to руби́ть (rubítʹ)), полти́на (poltína), полти́нник (poltínnik) (akin to Proto-Slavic *tęti).

Noun

shilling (plural shillings)

1. (historical) A coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling.
   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

     A great bargain also had been […] the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

2. The currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
3. (US, historical) A currency in the United States, differing in value between states.
4. (US, historical, New York and some other states) The Spanish real, formerly having the value of one eighth of a dollar.
5. (historical) Alternative form of schilling, a coin formerly used in Germany and German states, worth twelve pfennig.
   • 1909, United States Bureau of the Mint, “Annual Report of the Director of the Mint”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1], page 281:

     The smaller silver coins of Europe, such as the solidus or German shilling, the mark, and others never found their way east in any quantity on account of their small size and value.

6. (historical) Alternative form of skilling, a coin formerly used in Denmark, Norway or Sweden, worth twelve penning.
   • 2013, Selena Axelro Winsnes, A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulff Joseph Wulff, Biography and Letters 1836-1842, pages 186-187:

     And without that profit an employee with my salary can make only a poor living and not be able to save one Danish shilling.

Usage notes

Abbreviations

• (in UK, etc): s. or s or / (solidus)
• (in Kenya): Ksh; (in Somalia) So. Sh.; (in Tanzania) TSh; (in Uganda) UGS

In East Africa, the names of the currencies usually use the proper noun for the country, not its adjectival form: "Kenya shilling", "Tanzania shilling", etc. Amounts are written with a solidus, probably from the UK usage: "2/50" is 2 shillings, 50 cents (not pence); 30 shillings only is written "30/=".

Synonyms

• (Britain, Ireland, Australia, East Africa): bob, generalise, gen, hog, Abraham's willing (archaic)
• (Australia): deener

Derived terms

• King's shilling
• look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
• poor man's shilling
• Queen's shilling
• shillingless
• shilling mark
• shilling shocker
• shilling sign
• shillingsworth
• shillingworth
• take the shilling
• tenpence to the shilling
• the full shilling

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sren

Translations

former coin

• Afrikaans: sjieling
• Asturian: xelín (ast) m
• Bulgarian: шилинг m (šiling)
• Catalan: xíling (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先令 (zh) (xiānlìng)

• Cornish: sols m
• Czech: šilink (cs) m
• Dutch: schelling (nl) m
• Esperanto: ŝilingo (eo)
• Finnish: šillinki (fi)
• French: shilling (fr) m, (obsolete) chelin (fr) m
• Georgian: შილინგი (šilingi)
• German: Schilling (de) m
• Greek: σελίνι (el) n (selíni)
• Hindi: शिलिंग (hi) m (śiliṅg)
• Irish: scilling f
• Italian: scellino (it) m
• Japanese: シリング (shiringu)
• Korean: 실링 (silling)
• Malay: syiling (ms)
• Māori: heringi
• Norman: ch'lîn m (Jersey)
• Polish: szyling (pl) m
• Portuguese: xelim (pt) m
• Romanian: șiling (ro) m
• Russian: ши́ллинг (ru) m (šílling)
• Scots: shillin
• Scottish Gaelic: tastan m
• Spanish: chelín (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: sren
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: شیلین (şilin)

• Welsh: swllt m

currency

• Afrikaans: sjieling
• Arabic: شِلِّن m (šillin)
• Asturian: xelín (ast) m
• Bulgarian: шилинг m (šiling)
• Catalan: xíling (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先令 (zh) (xiānlìng)

• Dutch: shilling (nl) m
• Esperanto: ŝilingo (eo)
• Finnish: šillinki (fi)
• French: shilling (fr) m
• Georgian: შილინგი (šilingi)
• German: Schilling (de) m
• Irish: scilling f
• Italian: scellino (it) m
• Japanese: シリング (shiringu)
• Kazakh: шиллинг (şilliñ)
• Korean: 실링 (silling)
• Malay: syiling (ms)
• Māori: heringi
• Polish: szyling (pl) m
• Portuguese: xelim (pt) m
• Romanian: șiling (ro) m
• Russian: ши́ллинг (ru) m (šílling)
• Somali: shilin (so)
• Spanish: chelín (es) m
• Swahili: shilingi (sw)
• Welsh: swllt m

See also

• schilling
• skilding
• skilling
• solidus

Further reading

• Currencies of the world

Etymology 2

See shill.

Verb

shilling

1. present participle and gerund of shill

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.liŋ/

Noun

shilling m (plural shillings)

1. shilling (old UK coin)

Further reading

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

Middle English

Noun

shilling

1. alternative form of schilling

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English shilling, from Middle English shilling, Old English sċilling, and ultimately Proto-Germanic *skillingaz. Doublet of schilling and skilling.

Noun

shilling m (definite singular shillingen, indefinite plural shilling, definite plural shillingene)

1. (numismatics, also historical) a shilling

References

• “shilling” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “shilling” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English shilling, from Middle English shilling, Old English sċilling, and ultimately Proto-Germanic *skillingaz. Doublet of schilling and skilling.

Noun

shilling m (plural shillingen)

1. (historical, numismatics) a shilling
2. a shilling: the currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda

References

• “shilling” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “shilling”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Swedish

Noun

shilling c

1. (historical) a shilling (English coin)
2. shilling (currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda)

Declension

Declension of shilling

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	shilling	shillings
	definite	shillingen	shillingens
plural	indefinite	shilling	shillings
	definite	shillingen	shillingens

See also

• skilling

References

• “shilling”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “shilling”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “shilling”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)