shilling

shilling
/shil"ing/, n.
1. a cupronickel coin and former monetary unit of the United Kingdom, the 20th part of a pound, equal to 12 pence: retained in circulation equal to 5 new pence after decimalization in 1971. Abbr.: s.
2. a former monetary unit of various other nations, as Australia, Fiji, Ghana, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Nigeria, equal to one twentieth of a pound or 12 pence.
3. the monetary unit of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda, equal to 100 cents.
4. any of various coins and moneys of account used in various parts of the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries.
[bef. 900; ME; OE scilling; c. D schelling, G Schilling, ON skillingr, Goth skillings]

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      former English and British coin, nominally valued at one-twentieth of a pound sterling, or 12 pence. The shilling was also formerly the monetary unit of Australia, Austria, New Zealand, and Ireland. Today it is the basic monetary unit in Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

      A silver coin of 12 pence, called a teston in France or a testoon in Britain, was first struck in 1504; it bore a profile likeness of Henry VII of England and was engraved by Alexander Bruchsal. This coin was continued by Henry VIII and was renamed the shilling during the succeeding reign of Edward VI. (The direct origin of the word is obscure; there was an Anglo-Saxon coin termed scilling or scylling, and some German states minted schillings from the 13th century onward.) By 1921 the value of the British shilling had become merely token, for the coin's silver content had become fractional; in 1947 it became wholly cupronickel (copper-nickel alloy). The shilling was phased out of the British system of coinage beginning in 1971, when a decimal system based on 100 new pence to £1 was introduced.

      The schilling was the Austrian currency until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro as the country's sole currency.

  In Kenya the shilling is divided into 100 cents, and a Kenya pound is equivalent to 20 Kenya shillings. The shilling became Kenya's official monetary unit in 1967, when it replaced the East Africa shilling. The Central Bank of Kenya, established in 1966, has the sole authority to issue banknotes and coins. Banknotes, which feature on the obverse a picture of Daniel arap Moi (Moi, Daniel arap) (president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002), are issued in denominations from 50 to 1,000 shillings. The reverse side of the notes contains images of monuments, buildings, and wildlife. Coin denominations issued range from 10 cents to 40 shillings.

      The Central Bank of Somalia has the exclusive authority to issue the Somali shilling; the Somali shilling was adopted as the country's currency in 1960. The Tanzanian shilling, issued by the Bank of Tanzania, and the Ugandan shilling, issued by the Bank of Uganda, became their respective countries' official currencies in 1967. The Somali, Tanzanian, and Ugandan shillings are all divided into 100 cents; they were each introduced at par with the East Africa shilling.

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  • shilling — [ ʃiliŋ ] n. m. • 1656; chelin 1558; mot angl. ♦ Ancienne unité monétaire anglaise, valant un vingtième de la livre, ou douze pence. ⊗ HOM. Schilling. ● shilling nom masculin (anglais shilling) Unité monétaire principale du Kenya, de l Ouganda,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Shilling — Shil ling, n. [OE. shilling, schilling, AS. scilling; akin to D. schelling, OS. & OHG. scilling, G. schilling, Sw. & Dan. skilling, Icel. skillingr, Goth. skilliggs, and perh. to OHG. scellan to sound, G. schallen.] 1. A silver coin, and money of …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • shilling — ► NOUN 1) a former British coin and monetary unit equal to one twentieth of a pound or twelve pence. 2) the basic monetary unit of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. ● not the full shilling Cf. ↑not the full shilling ● take the King s (or Queen s)… …   English terms dictionary

  • shilling — (n.) O.E. scilling, a coin consisting of a varying number of pence (on the continent, a common scale was 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound), from P.Gmc. *skillingoz (Cf. O.S., Dan., Swed., O.Fris., O.H.G. skilling, O.N. skillingr …   Etymology dictionary

  • shilling — [shil′iŋ] n. [ME schilling < OE scylling, akin to Ger schilling < Gmc * skildling, prob. < * skild (see SHIELD) + * ling, LING1] 1. a) a former monetary unit of the United Kingdom, equal to 1/ 20 of a pound or 12 pence b) a cupronickel… …   English World dictionary

  • Shilling — (engl., spr. Schilling), englische Silbermünze von Viergroschenstückgröße, mit dem Brustbilde des Königs (der Königin) u. dem Wappen des Reichs bezeichnet, zerfällt in 12 Pence; 20 S. gehen auf das Pfund Sterling. Zuerst wurden sie um 1500 unter… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Shilling — (abgekürzt s und sh), Rechnungsstufe der Sterlingwährung = 1/20 Pfund, als engl. Silbermünze zu 12 Pence 5,65518 g schwer und 37/40 fein = 0,941587 Mk., vor 1816 aber 6,02 g schwer und = 1,00233 Mk. der Talerwährung. Den ersten S. prägte Heinrich …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Shilling — Shilling, engl. Silbermünze = 1/20 Pfd. St. = 1,02 M …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • shilling — SHÍLLING s.m. v. şiling1. Trimis de LauraGellner, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DN …   Dicționar Român

  • shilling — s. m. Ver xelim.   ‣ Etimologia: palavra inglesa …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • Shilling — This article is about coinage. For other uses, see shilling (disambiguation). A 1933 UK shilling The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an… …   Wikipedia

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