Meanings
shilling1
plural shillings
- historicalA coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling.
1 more example
A great bargain also had been[…]the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016 - UShistoricalA currency in the United States, differing in value between states.
- alternativehistoricalAlternative form of schilling, a coin formerly used in Germany and German states, worth twelve pfennig.
The smaller silver coins of Europe, such as the solidus or German shilling, the mark, and others never found their way east in any quantity on account of their small size and value.
1909, United States Bureau of the Mint, “Annual Report of the Director of the Mint”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 281 - alternativehistoricalAlternative form of skilling, a coin formerly used in Denmark, Norway or Sweden, worth twelve penning.
And without that profit an employee with my salary can make only a poor living and not be able to save one Danish shilling.
2013, Selena Axelro Winsnes, A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulff Joseph Wulff, Biography and Letters 1836-1842, pages 186-187
shilling2
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of shill
Shilling3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe basic unit of money in Uganda; equal to 100 cents
nounthe basic unit of money in Tanzania; equal to 100 cents
nounthe basic unit of money in Somalia; equal to 100 cents
nounthe basic unit of money in Kenya; equal to 100 cents
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
shilling · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)kelH-
- Proto-Germanic*skiljaną
- Proto-Germanic*skillingaz
- Old Englishsċilling
- Middle Englishschilling
- Englishshilling
From Middle English schilling, shilling, from Old English sċilling, from Proto-West Germanic *skilling, from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz, equivalent to skill + -ing. Doublet of scalding and schilling. Compare typologically Russian рубль (rublʹ) (akin to руби́ть (rubítʹ)), полти́на (poltína), полти́нник (poltínnik) (akin to Proto-Slavic *tęti).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →shilling · verb
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sjieling, sjieling
- sjielingformer coin
- sjielingcurrency
Arabic شِلِّن
- شِلِّن (šillin)currency
Bulgarian шилинг, шилинг
- шилинг (šiling)former coin
- шилинг (šiling)currency
Catalan xíling, xíling
- xílingformer coin
- xílingcurrency
Chinese Mandarin 先令, 先令
- 先令 (xiānlìng)former coin
- 先令 (xiānlìng)currency
Czech šilink
- šilinkformer coin
Dutch schelling, shilling
- schellingformer coin
- shillingcurrency
Esperanto ŝilingo, ŝilingo
- ŝilingoformer coin
- ŝilingocurrency
Finnish šillinki, šillinki
- šillinkiformer coin
- šillinkicurrency
French shilling, chelin
- shillingformer coin
- chelinformer coin
- shillingcurrency
German Schilling, Schilling
- Schillingformer coin
- Schillingcurrency
Greek σελίνι
- σελίνι (selíni)former coin
Hindi शिलिंग
- शिलिंग (śiliṅg)former coin
Irish scilling, scilling
- scillingformer coin
- scillingcurrency
Italian scellino, scellino
- scellinoformer coin
- scellinocurrency
Japanese シリング, シリング
- シリング (shiringu)former coin
- シリング (shiringu)currency
Korean 실링, 실링
- 실링 (silling)former coin
- 실링 (silling)currency
Malay syiling, syiling
- syilingformer coin
- syilingcurrency
Māori heringi, heringi
- heringiformer coin
- heringicurrency
Polish szyling, szyling
- szylingformer coin
- szylingcurrency
Portuguese xelim, xelim
- xelimformer coin
- xelimcurrency
Romanian șiling, șiling
- șilingformer coin
- șilingcurrency
Russian ши́ллинг, ши́ллинг
- ши́ллинг (šílling)former coin
- ши́ллинг (šílling)currency
Scottish Gaelic tastan
- tastanformer coin
Spanish chelín, chelín
- chelínformer coin
- chelíncurrency
Swahili shilingi
- shilingicurrency
Welsh swllt, swllt
- swlltformer coin
- swlltcurrency
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shilling
Cite this entry
shilling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shilling
“shilling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shilling. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shilling,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shilling.
Source: shilling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.