Definition of SOLIDUS

solidus

Meanings

Plural: solidi, soliduses

Noun

  • a gold coin of the Byzantine Empire; widely circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages
  • a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information
  • Various medieval and early modern coins or units of account
  • A Roman ~23k gold coin introduced by Diocletian in AD 301 and called by that name, but reissued at a slightly lower weight by Constantine I.
  • Various medieval and early modern coins or units of account
  • Its successor Byzantine coins, from the eleventh century onward of progressively debased weight and purity.
  • Various medieval and early modern coins or units of account
  • Synonym of sol or sou: a Carolingian unit of account equivalent to a solidus of silver.
  • Various medieval and early modern coins or units of account
  • Synonym of soldo: the silver coins of various Italian states.
  • Various medieval and early modern coins or units of account
  • Synonym of shilling: an English unit of account and, following the Tudor dynasty, silver coin.
  • The weight of the Roman gold coin, 1/60 of a Roman pound under Diocletian or 1/72 lb. (about 4.5 grams) after Constantine.
  • A medieval French weight, 1/20 of the Carolingian pound.
  • Synonym of slash ⟨/⟩, originally (UK) in its use as the shilling mark and now its formal designation by the ISO and Unicode.
  • The formal name of the oblique strikethrough overlay (as in A̷ and B̸) in Unicode.
  • The division line between the numerator and the denominator of a fraction, whether horizontal or oblique.
  • The line in a phase diagram marking the temperatures and pressures below which a given substance is a stable solid.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English solidus, from classical Latin solidus (“solid”), see below. Doublet of sol, sold, soldo, solid, sou, and xu.
In numismatic and weight senses, via medieval Latin solidus (“various coins”), from Late Latin solidus (“a gold coin of the Roman Empire”). In chemical sense, via German Solidus, coined by H.W.B. Roozeboom in his 1899 Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, Stöchiometrie, und Verwandtschaftslehre (XXX, page 387).
In typography, from the shilling mark originally being an abbreviation (a long s ⟨ſ⟩), of Medieval Latin solidus meaning shilling.

Scrabble Score: 8

solidus is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
solidus is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
solidus is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

solidus is a valid Words With Friends word