quattie

quattie means an old Jamaican coin worth three cents or one-and-a-half pence.

Why “quattie” is a great word

An old Jamaican coin worth three cents or one-and-a-half pence. From quarter (referring to a quarter of a sixpence) with the diminutive suffix -ie, this was the coin of small commerce, a token of the colony’s own micro-economy. Unlike a farthing (the British mite, a sliver of a penny) or a penny (the standard unit of account), the quattie was a world unto itself, a fractional oddity born of local necessity. It was the weight of a few cloves in a merchant’s hand, the price of a slice of cane from a roadside cart, or the exact sum for a stub of pencil and a sheet of coarse paper—a minor denomination measuring out the quiet arithmetic of survival.

Etymology

From quarter + -ie.

noun

An old Jamaican coin worth three cents or one-and-a-half pence.

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

quadrin 68% match — An old copper coin of small value. vs quattie →
joey 64% match — The immature young of a marsupial, notably a junior kangaroo, but also a young wallaby, koala, etc. vs quattie →
fourpence 61% match — A monetary amount of four pence. vs quattie →
farthing 60% match — A quarter of any monetary unit or measure. vs quattie →
juttal 60% match — A coin formerly used in India. vs quattie →
quidlet 60% match — Synonym of quid: one pound sterling. vs quattie →
shilling 59% match — A coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling. vs quattie →
dandiprat 58% match — An English coin worth three half-pence vs quattie →