What is "guinea"

Guinea \Guin"ea\ (g[i^]n"[-e]), n.

1. A district on the west coast of Africa (formerly noted for its export of gold and slaves) after which the Guinea fowl, Guinea grass, Guinea peach, etc., are named.

2. A gold coin of England current for twenty-one shillings sterling, or about five dollars, but not coined since the issue of sovereigns in 1817.

   The guinea, so called from the Guinea gold out of which it was first struck, was proclaimed in 1663, and to go for twenty shillings; but it never went for less than twenty-one shillings.
   --Pinkerton.

   Guinea corn. (Bot.) See Durra.

   Guinea Current (Geog.), a current in the Atlantic Ocean setting southwardly into the Bay of Benin on the coast of Guinea.

   Guinea dropper one who cheats by dropping counterfeit guineas. [Obs.]
   --Gay.

   Guinea fowl, Guinea hen (Zo["o]l.), an African gallinaceous bird, of the genus Numida, allied to the pheasants. The common domesticated species ( Numida meleagris), has a colored fleshy horn on each aide of the head, and is of a dark gray color, variegated with small white spots. The crested Guinea fowl ( Numida cristata) is a finer species.

   Guinea grains (Bot.), grains of Paradise, or amomum. See Amomum.

   Guinea grass (Bot.), a tall strong forage grass ( Panicum jumentorum) introduced. from Africa into the West Indies and Southern United States.

   Guinea-hen flower (Bot.), a liliaceous flower ( Fritillaria Meleagris) with petals spotted like the feathers of the Guinea hen.

   Guinea peach. See under Peach.

   Guinea pepper (Bot.), the pods of the Xylopia aromatica, a tree of the order Anonace[ae], found in tropical West Africa. They are also sold under the name of Piper [AE]thiopicum.

   Guinea plum (Bot.), the fruit of Parinarium excelsum, a large West African tree of the order Chrysobalane[ae], having a scarcely edible fruit somewhat resembling a plum, which is also called gray plum and rough-skin plum.

   Guinea worm (Zo["o]l.), a long and slender African nematoid worm ( Filaria Medinensis) of a white color. It lives in the cellular tissue of man, beneath the skin, and produces painful sores.

former British coin, 1660s, from Guinea, region along the west coast of Africa, presumably from an African word (perhaps Tuareg aginaw "black people"); the 20-shilling coins so called because they were first minted for British trade with Guinea (but soon in domestic use) and with gold from Africa. The original guinea (in use from 1663 to 1813) was based on the value of gold and by 1695 it was worth 30 shillings. William III then fixed its value at 21 shillings, 6 pence in 1698. The extra 6 pence were lopped off in December 1717.\n

\nThe Guinea hen (1570s) is a domestic fowl imported from there. Guinea "derogatory term for Italian" (1896) was originally Guinea Negro (1740s) and meant "black person, person of mixed ancestry." It was applied to Italians c.1890 probably because of their dark complexions relative to northern Europeans, and after 1911 was occasionally applied to Hispanics and Pacific Islanders as well. New Guinea was so named 1546 by Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes in reference to the natives' dark skin and tightly curled hair.

n. 1 (context US slang pejorative ethnic slur English) A person of Italian descent. 2 (context British historical English) A gold coin originally worth twenty shillings and originally made from gold imported from Africa; later (from 1717 until the adoption of decimal currency) standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings. 3 A ground-forage bird of Africa, of the family Numididae. Domesticated strains include Pearl, White, Buff, Blue, Purple and Lavender. Also called guinea fowl.

1. n. a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings

2. offensive terms for a person of Italian descent [syn: wop, dago, greaseball]

3. a republic in eastern Africa on the Atlantic; formerly a French colony; achieved independence from France in 1958 [syn: Republic of Guinea, French Guinea]

4. a west African bird having dark plumage mottled with white; native to Africa but raised for food in many parts of the world [syn: guinea fowl, Numida meleagris]

Guinea is a country in West Africa.

Guinea may also refer to:

Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the West coast of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north.

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in the West coast of Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , the modern country is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry in order to distinguish it from other parts of the wider region of the same name, such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 10.5 million and an area of .

Guinea is a republic. The president is directly elected by the people and is head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the legislative body of the country, and its members are also directly elected by the people. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest and final court of appeal in the country.

Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population. Guinea's people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the official language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, in the media, but more than twenty-four indigenous languages are also spoken.

Guinea's economy is largely dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the world's second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds and gold.

Human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, and abuse of women and children (e.g. female genital mutilation) were ongoing abuses of human rights.

The country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guiné, which emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black African peoples below the Senegal River, as opposed to the ' tawny' Zenaga Berbers, above it, whom they called Azenegues or Moors.

The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

The guinea was a coin of approximately one quarter ounce of gold that was minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally worth one pound sterling, equal to twenty shillings, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings. Then, Britain adopted the gold standard and guinea became a colloquial or specialised term.

The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, where much of the gold used to make the coins originated. Although no longer circulated, the term guinea survives in some circles, notably horse racing, and in the sale of rams to mean an amount of one pound and one shilling (21 shillings) or one pound and five pence in decimalised currency. The name also forms the basis for the Arabic word for the Egyptian pound , as a sum of 100 qirsh (one pound) was worth approximately 21 shillings at the end of the 19th century.