solidus
/ˈsɑlɪdəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.02 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
noun
noun
The weight of the Roman gold coin, 1/60 of a Roman pound under Diocletian or 1/72 lb. (about 4.5 grams) after Constantine.
noun
A medieval French weight, 1/20 of the Carolingian pound.
noun
Synonym of slash ⟨/⟩, originally (UK) in its use as the shilling mark and now its formal designation by the ISO and Unicode.
Etymology
From Middle English solidus, from classical Latin solidus (“solid”), see below. Doublet of sol, sold, soldo, solid, sou, and xu. In numismatic and weight senses, via medieval Latin solidus (“various coins”), from Late Latin solidus (“a gold coin of the Roman Empire”). In chemical sense, via German Solidus, coined by H.W.B. Roozeboom in his 1899 Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, Stöchiometrie, und Verwandtschaftslehre (XXX, page 387). In typography, from the shilling mark originally being an abbreviation (a long s ⟨ſ⟩), of Medieval Latin solidus meaning shilling.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *solh₂-, solidus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɑlɪdəs/
- British English: /ˈsɒlɪdəs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
reverse solidus
nummus (1
radiate (1
laureate (1
denarius (1
siliqua (1
24; a modern term)
follis (1