assignat

[as-ig-nat; French a-see-nya]

noun, plural as·sig·nats [as-ig-nats; French a-see-nya] /ˈæs ɪgˌnæts; French a siˈnya/. French History.

one of the notes issued as paper currency from 1789 to 1796 by the revolutionary government on the security of confiscated lands.

Nearby words

Origin of assignat

1780–90; < French < Latin assignātus assigned (past participle of assignāre). See assign, -ate¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for assignat

I looked up, and, straight before me, saw the same officer who had given me the assignat the night before.
Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune|Charles James Lever
Ominous it was when persons compelled to take this loan found for an assignat of one hundred francs only one franc was allowed.
Fiat Money Inflation in France|Andrew Dickson White
He would not even change an assignat to take for what I drank, which was not a little; and I therefore owe him for it.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442|Various
When the guillotine stops working, the assignat, losing its official value, falls to its real value.
The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 4 (of 6)|Hippolyte A. Taine

I looked up, and there, straight before me, saw the same officer who had given me the assignat the night before.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850.|Various

British Dictionary definitions for assignat

assignat

noun

French history the paper money issued by the Constituent Assembly in 1789, backed by the confiscated land of the Church and the émigrés

Word Origin for assignat

C18: from French, from Latin assignātum something appointed; see assign

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012