Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA 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.
nounThe currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
Sentence Examples
May I have a shilling, sir?
I'm not sure how I got a shilling in my change from the cashier.
He headed to Miami and started shilling for crypto.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In 18th century London, a fresh loaf of bread cost one ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the old days, you could buy a decent loaf of bread for just a single ____.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 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:
"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."
— 1909, United States Bureau of the Mint, “Annual Report of the Director of the Mint”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 281:
"And without that profit an employee with my salary can make only a poor living and not be able to save one Danish shilling."
— 2013, Selena Axelro Winsnes, A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulff Joseph Wulff, Biography and Letters 1836-1842, pages 186-187: