shekel

shekel

English

WOTD – 22 November 2006

Half shekel dated 68/9 CE

Alternative forms

• sheqel

Etymology

From Hebrew שֶׁקֶל‎ (shékel, “shekel”), from שָׁקַל‎ (shakál, “to weigh”), from Akkadian 𒂅 (šiqlum).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛkəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkəl
• Hyphenation: shek‧el

Noun

shekel (plural shekels or shekalim)

1. A currency unit of both ancient and modern Israel.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     "Beauty is naught to him, because there are lips more honey-sweet; and wealth is naught, because others can weigh him down with heavier shekels; and fame is naught, because there have been greater men than he."

2. (slang) Money.
   • 1914, The Judge (volume 66)

     Her gownlet cost five hundred beans; / Her furs, four figures in a row; / Her hat removed from papa's jeans / A hundred shekels more or so.

   • 1924, James Alban Wilson, Sport and Service in Assam and Elsewhere (page 288)

     […] after the 1887-9 campaign was the great refuge of the destitute who, as they could not hope to rake in a breast-full of medals and decorations, expected, at any rate, to amass a good few shekels.

   • 2018, Gerry Woodhouse, Lord Damnus: Conqueror of the World

     The mob had filched anything that might earn them a shekel or two.

3. (historical) An ancient unit of weight equivalent to one-fiftieth of a mina.

Derived terms

• new shekel

Translations

currency unit in Israel

Arabic: شِيكِل‎ m (šekel), شِيكِل‎ m (šīkil) Armenian: շեկել (hy) (šekel) Bulgarian: ше́кел m (šékel) Catalan: xéquel (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 錫克爾／锡克尔 (xíkè'ěr) Czech: šekel m Dutch: sjekel (nl) m Finnish: sekeli (fi) French: shekel (fr) m German: Schekel (de) m Greek: Ancient: σίγλος m (síglos), σίκλος m (síklos) Hebrew: שֶׁקֶל‎ (he) m (shékel) Hindi: शेकेल (śekel) Hungarian: sékel (hu) Irish: seiceal m Japanese: シェケル (shekeru) Korean: 셰켈 (syekel) Latvian: šekelis m Lithuanian: šekelis m Maori: hekere Navajo: Ízrel bi-shékʼel ániidí Persian: شکل‎ (fa) (šekel) Polish: szekel (pl) m Portuguese: shekel (pt) m Russian: ше́кель (ru) m (šékelʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: шекел m Roman: šekel (sh) m Spanish: séquel m Turkish: şekel (tr) Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎖𐎍 (ṯql) Ukrainian: ше́кель m (šékelʹ) Yiddish: שעקעל‎ m (shekel)

ancient unit of weight

Akkadian: 𒅆𒅗𒇻 m (šiqalu) Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܬܩܠ‎ m (t'qēl) Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תְּקֵל‎ m (t'qēl), תִּיקְלָא‎ m (tiqlå) Armenian: սիկղ (hy) (sikł) Old Armenian: սիկղ (sikł) Catalan: sicle m German: Schekel (de) m, Sekel (de) m Greek: Ancient: σίγλος m (síglos) Hebrew: שקל‎ (he) m (shekel) Latin: siclus m Maori: hekere Phoenician: 𐤔𐤒𐤋‎‎ m (šql‎) Polish: sykl (pl) m, szekel (pl) m Russian: сикль (ru) m (siklʹ) Spanish: siclo (es) m Sumerian: 𒂆 (gig̃₄, gin₂ /gig̃/) Swedish: sikel (sv) c Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎖𐎍 (ṯql)

See also

• agora
• ILS
• NIS

Further reading

• shekel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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French

Etymology

From Hebrew שֶׁקֶל‎ (shékel, “shekel”), from שָׁקַל‎ (shakál, “to weigh”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃe.kɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

shekel m (plural shekels)

1. shekel (unit of currency)

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Portuguese

Noun

shekel m (plural shekels)

1. sheqel (currency unit in Israel)