coin: [14] Latin cuneus meant ‘wedge’ (from it we get cuneiform ‘wedge-shaped script’). It passed into Old French as coing or coin, where it developed a variety of new meanings. Primary amongst these was ‘corner-stone’ or ‘corner’, a sense preserved in English mainly in the now archaic spelling quoin. But also, since the die for stamping out money was often wedge-shaped, or operated in the manner of a wedge, it came to be referred to as a coin, and the term soon came to be transferred to the pieces of money themselves. => quoin
coin (n.)
c. 1300, "a wedge," from Old French coing (12c.) "a wedge; stamp; piece of money; corner, angle," from Latin cuneus "a wedge." The die for stamping metal was wedge-shaped, and the English word came to mean "thing stamped, a piece of money" by late 14c. (a sense that already had developed in French). Compare quoin, which split off from this word 16c. Modern French coin is "corner, angle, nook." Coins were first struck in western Asia Minor in 7c. B.C.E.; Greek tradition and Herodotus credit the Lydians with being first to make and use coins of silver and gold.
coin (v.)
"to coin money," mid-14c., from coin (n.). Related: Coined; coining. To coin a phrase is late 16c. A Middle English word for minter was coin-smiter.
实用例句
1. I pulled a coin from my pocket and flipped it.
我从口袋里掏出一个硬币，把它弹向空中。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Thirteen per cent of Christie's coin and banknote auction went unsold.
佳士得13%的硬币和纸币拍卖流拍。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I put the coin in the machine and pulled the lever.
我把硬币投入机器，拉动控制杆。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The golden rule is never to clean a valuable coin.
重要的原则是决不清除贵重硬币上的污垢。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Coin-operated telephones took 100, 200 and 500 lire coins.
