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• guinea
  guinea

  noun

  a former money of account of the United Kingdom, equal to 21 shillings: still often used in quoting fees or prices.
• Guinea
  Guinea

  noun

  a coastal region in western Africa, extending from the Gambia River to the Gabon estuary.

guinea

¹ American  

[gin-ee] / ˈgɪn i /

noun

• guineas
  plural

1. a former money of account of the United Kingdom, equal to 21 shillings: still often used in quoting fees or prices.

2. a gold coin of Great Britain issued from 1663 to 1813, with a nominal value of 20 shillings.

3. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of Italian birth or descent.

4. Horse Racing. a person who does miscellaneous work in or around a horse stable.

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Guinea ² American  

[gin-ee] / ˈgɪn i /

noun

1. a coastal region in western Africa, extending from the Gambia River to the Gabon estuary.

2. Formerly French Guinea.  an independent republic in western Africa, on the Atlantic coast. About 96,900 sq. mi. (251,000 sq. km). Conakry.

3. Gulf of Guinea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean that projects into the western coast of Africa and extends from the Ivory Coast to Gabon.

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Guinea ¹ British  

/ ˈɡɪnɪ /

noun

1. a republic in West Africa, on the Atlantic: established as the colony of French Guinea in 1890 and became an independent republic in 1958. Official language: French. Religion: Muslim majority and animist. Currency: franc. Capital: Conakry. Pop: 11 176 026 (2013 est). Area: 245 855 sq km (94 925 sq miles)

2. (formerly) the coastal region of West Africa, between Cape Verde and Namibe (formerly Moçâmedes; Angola): divided by a line of volcanic peaks into Upper Guinea (between The Gambia and Cameroon) and Lower Guinea (between Cameroon and S Angola)

3. a large inlet of the S Atlantic on the W coast of Africa, extending from Cape Palmas, Liberia, to Cape Lopez, Gabon: contains two large bays, the Bight of Bonny and the Bight of Benin, separated by the Niger delta

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guinea ² British  

/ ˈɡɪnɪ /

noun

1. 1. a British gold coin taken out of circulation in 1813, worth 21 shillings

   2. the sum of 21 shillings (£1.05), still used in some contexts, as in quoting professional fees

2. See guinea fowl

3. slang an Italian or a person of Italian descent

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Guinea Cultural  

1. Republic in west Africa, bordered by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali to the north; Ivory Coast to the east; Liberia to the south; and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its capital and largest city is Conarky.

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Discover More

Guinea was once part of the Mali empire.

It became independent of France in 1958.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Guinean
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• guineas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of guinea

C16: the coin was originally made of gold from Guinea

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

guinea Guinea guineas

“It’s great that it’s here. It’s kind of bad that we’re the guinea pigs.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

You don’t want your guest to be a guinea pig.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Other advice included moving rabbit and guinea pig pens to shaded areas and ensure indoor enclosures for pets like hamsters were not in direct sunlight.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

"I wouldn't want to be the first guinea pig," as "it's not so easy to have everything just smooth" like Apple has managed to do with its laptops.

From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026

When Danny was little, the Finnegan family he’d lived with had a guinea pig and after a year, it died while it was mid-run on its hamster wheel.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

The latest list of 74 names includes future ambassadors to Australia, Brazil and Equatorial Guinea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Yamal’s father was born in Morocco and his mother in Equatorial Guinea before moving to Catalonia with their families as children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

That contrast is especially striking in the Bismarck Sea north of Papua New Guinea, where the seafloor remains poorly understood despite its remarkable geological complexity.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

Gold and gas-driven economic growth in Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific's largest nation, is leaving its people behind, the World Bank said on Thursday.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

My specialty is bird evolution, which I have studied in South America, southern Africa, Indonesia, Australia, and especially New Guinea.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

The publishers – Cadell and Davies – paid 20 guineas for the new painting which they planned to use as an engraving in all future editions of Burns' books.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026

The guineas died pretty quickly, and I would discover their bodies and the smell, and move them with a shovel so we could continue working and cleaning.

From Salon ● May 2, 2020

The siblings raise guineas, ducks, chickens and geese for eggs and goats and rabbits for meat.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2018

In 1846, she bought three, at four guineas each, from Hitchings Baby Stores of Ludgate Hill in London.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 20, 2018

“Pip has earned a premium here,” she said, “and here it is. There are five-and-twenty guineas in this bag. Give it to your master, Pip.”

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens