Dictionary

coinage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɔɪnɪd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English coynage, from Old French coignage, from coignier. By surface analysis, coin + -age.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The process of coining money.
2. (uncountable) Coins taken collectively; currency.
   • My father was one of those persons who could add a column of figures - even of the ridiculous coinage then in use locally - with a flick of the eye, so that it was natural for him to have in mind that I should become an accountant. 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 25:
   • The Minoan age had not only an elaborate system of weights, but the first beginnings of a coinage. 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 15:
   • He […] threw himself on a sopha opposite the copy of a bust of the Apollo Belvidere. After one or two trivial remarks, to which I sullenly replied, he suddenly cried, looking at the bust, “I am called like that victor! Not a bad idea; the head will serve for my new coinage, and be an omen to all dutiful subjects of my future success.” 1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 125:
3. (uncountable) The creation of new words, neologizing.
   • Caution needs to be exercised in regards to claims of coinage as the data contained a number of examples of writers professing the invention of a term that had actually been in existence for many years. 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 13:
4. (countable) Something which has been made or invented, especially a coined word; a neologism.
   • Most importantly perhaps, it is evident that the impression of archaicity which any reader will experience on reading The Lord of the Rings is partly due to three simple lexical causes: the “overuse” of words borrowed from nineteenth-century fiction (e.g. yonder, journey [v], topmost), the avoidance of words associated with the modern world and the comparatively dense use of new coinages, unusual grammatical patterns, rare or obsolescent words. 2021, Thomas Kullmann and Dirk Siepmann, Tolkien as a Literary Artist: Exploring Rhetoric, Language and Style in The Lord of the Rings, Palgrave-Macmillan 2021
   • As for Nash his chief aim seems to have been to vilify ; he by no means troubled himself about consistency. In Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem we find more strange expressious than he could have got out of all Harvey’s works, of which the following may serve as samples : callichrimate, Works, IV, 51 ; investurings, 72; sacrificatory, 76; delinquishment, 78; succoursuers, 116 ; intercessionate, 156 ; deplorement, 30. There are also a great number of derivatives in -ize, which are worth particular mention, e. g., unmortalize, 70 ; carionized, 75 ; oblivionize, 79 ; anatomize, 109 ; and many others. Of these some were in good use at the time, but others are obviously new coinages. There was some comment upon these particular derivatives on the appearance of the first edition of Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem, and in the second edition Nash commented upon the matter. 1903, Edward E. Hale, Jr., “Ideas on Rhetoric in the Sixteenth Century”, in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, volume XVIII, number 3, Modern Language Association of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 441–442:
   • According to Jared Freid, a 39-year-old comedian and co-host of the dating podcast "U Up?," this is known as hoodfishing, a coinage — though not his own — referring to people claiming to be from the city they are dating in but really are living somewhere else entirely. 2024 August 29, Gina Cherelus, “The Irresistible Urge to Change Your Location on a Dating App”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Oct 2024:
   • It also reflects the way portmanteau coinages incorporating “bro-” and “man-” — “portmanbros,” if you will — have increasingly taken on a critical edge, in keeping with shifts in conversations around gender. 2017 December 14, Jennifer Schuessler, “‘Youthquake’ Is Oxford’s Word of the Year. Sorry, Broflake.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019:
5. (countable, uncountable) The process of creating something new.

Forms

Deriveds

loan coinage · recoinage · miscoinage · free coinage · noncoinage

Translations (12)

enm coynage (process of coining money) · pt cunhagem (process of coining money) · es acuñación (process of coining money) · ru чека́нка (process of coining money) · ca encunyació (process of coining money) · tl menta (process of coining money) · ja 貨幣鋳造 (process of coining money) · fi rahan lyöminen (process of coining money) · de Münzprägung (process of coining money) · cmn 貨幣制度 /货币制度 (process of coining money) · fr frappe (de la monnaie) (process of coining money) · it conio (process of coining money)