sequin

sequin

English

50 sequin (c. 1779–89)

gold sequins on a shoe (2)

Etymology

Borrowed from French sequin, from Italian zecchino, from zecca (“mint”), from Arabic سِكَّة‎ (sikka, “die for coining, coin”). Doublet of zecchin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.kwɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

sequin (plural sequins)

1. (now historical) Any of various small gold coins minted in Italy and Turkey.

   Synonym: zecchin

   • 1816, William Beckford, Vathek, Oxford 2013, p. 10:

     ‘Let him receive as many robes of honour and thousands of sequins of gold as he hath spoken words.’

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, OCLC 702939134:

     English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange Oriental pices stamped with what looked like wisps of string or its of spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to ware them round your neck - nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in that collection...

2. (fashion) A sparkling spangle used for the decoration of ornate clothing.

   Synonym: paillette

   • 1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter CVII, in Of Human Bondage:

     His ideas of music-hall costumes had never gone beyond short skirts, a swirl of lace, and glittering sequins; but Miss Antonia had expressed herself on that subject in no uncertain terms.

Translations

Italian/Turkish coin

Finnish: sekiini German: Zechine (de) f Hungarian: zecchino (hu) Italian: zecchino (it) m Macedonian: це́кин m (cékin) Russian: цехи́н (ru) m (cexín) Serbo-Croatian: cekin (sh) Slovene: cekin Spanish: cequí (es) m, sequí m Swedish: sekin (sv), dukat (sv) Turkish: sikke (tr)

sparkling spangle used for decoration of ornate clothing:

Bulgarian: пайети (pajeti) Czech: pajetka f, bůstka f, cetka f, flitr m Esperanto: brilaĵeto sg Finnish: paljetti (fi) French: paillettes (fr) f pl German: Paillette (de) f, Flitterblättchen n Hungarian: flitter (hu) Italian: pailette f, lustrino (it) m Macedonian: пу́лејка f (púlejka), пуле́лија f (pulélija) Malay: labuci Maori: kora Norwegian: Bokmål: paljett m, paljetter pl Nynorsk: paljett m, paljettar pl Polish: cekin (pl) m Portuguese: lantejoula f Russian: блёстка (ru) f (bljóstka) Serbo-Croatian: šljokica (sh), pajet Spanish: lentejuela (es) f Swedish: paljett (sv) c Turkish: payet (tr) Ukrainian: бли́скітка (uk) f (blýskitka), блискі́тка (uk) f (blyskítka)

Further reading

• sequin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sequin in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Quines, quines, sinque

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French

Etymology

From Italian zecchino, from zecca (“mint”), from Arabic سِكَّة‎ (sikka, “die for coining, coin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.kɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sequin m (plural sequins)

1. (money) zecchin, sequin
2. sequin

   Synonym: paillette

Further reading

• “sequin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• enquis, équins, niques, niqués