a former money of account of the United Kingdom, equal to 21 shillings: still often used in quoting fees or prices.
a gold coin of Great Britain issued from 1663 to 1813, with a nominal value of 20 shillings.
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of Italian birth or descent.
Horse Racing. a person who does miscellaneous work in or around a horse stable.
a coastal region in western Africa, extending from the Gambia River to the Gabon estuary.
Formerly French Guinea. an independent republic in western Africa, on the Atlantic coast. About 96,900 sq. mi. (251,000 sq. km). Conakry.
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.
a British gold coin taken out of circulation in 1813, worth 21 shillings
the sum of 21 shillings (£1.05), still used in some contexts, as in quoting professional fees
See guinea fowl
slang an Italian or a person of Italian descent
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)
(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)
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
Guinea was once part of the Mali empire.
It became independent of France in 1958.
C16: the coin was originally made of gold from Guinea
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"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
She said that she had bought Kol some guinea pigs, after seeing how he responded to them sitting in his lap.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
His three-year-old guinea pig, Remington, had surgery for a bladder stone.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
It arrived the size of a guinea pig—and grew to 130.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
The guinea pig set out four copper cups and stuck cinnamon sticks in each, with a splash of milk and sugar.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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
Neighbouring Papua New Guinea briefly suspended imports of Australian eggs and chicken meat -- although this has since been lifted with some exceptions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Guinea is Africa's sixth largest gold producer, according to the World Gold Council.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
To conduct the study, researchers sequenced the genomes of 177 people from 12 populations across Near Oceania, the southwestern Pacific region that includes Papua New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
Personally, I have the same problem with a climatic theory of megafaunal extinction in the Americas as with such a theory in Australia/New Guinea.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
It also earned him twenty-five guineas, his first income as a journalist.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2019
In 2006 Lady Rothschild paid a then record 4.6 million guineas for a broodmare when purchasing Magical Romance.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2019
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
“What I paid two guineas to discover is this. There isn’t going to be an appeal just because five years on you’ve decided to tell the truth.”
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
