stiver

S1T1I1V4E1R1
/ˈstaɪvə/

noun

A small Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder.

RareScrabble 9

Meanings

stiver1

nounstiver (plural stivers)

plural stivers

  1. historicalbusinessA small Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder.
  2. Anything of small value.

    ’Tis not worth a single stiver, said the bandy-leg'd drummer.

    1761, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume 4, Penguin, published 2003, page 223
    1 more example

    [A]ll hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays […] And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather long lay, yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my three years' beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver.

    1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 16”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

Stiver2

proper nounStiver (plural Stivers)

plural Stivers

Origin

  1. Dutchstuiver
  2. Englishstiver

From Dutch stuiver, cognate with Middle Low German stüver.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch stuiver
  • stuiversmall Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder
Finnish styyveri
  • styyverismall Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder
Swedish styver
  • styversmall Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

stiver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stiver

MLA

“stiver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stiver. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stiver,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stiver.

Source: stiver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.