sycee means any of various gold or silver ingots used as currency in imperial China. It carries an Arena rating of 1414, earned across 53 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sycee ranks #407 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #771 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,735 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #1,932 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
sycee is pronounced /sʌɪˈsiː/.
Why “sycee” is a great word
SYCEE — [Noun] A boat-shaped ingot of silver or gold used as currency in imperial China, or a paper replica burned in ritual offerings. From Cantonese 細絲 / 细丝 (sai³ si¹, “fine silk”), referring either to the bullion's workability into fine strands or its luster. First attested in English in 1711. Unlike a 'tael' (which is strictly a unit of weight) or a 'yuanbao' (a broader term for auspicious ingot-shaped charms), the sycee was the tangible object of stored wealth and reverence. It is the cool, dense heft in a merchant’s palm, the gleam of a miniature silver shoe on a counting-house table, and the fragile, ashen ghost of its paper twin curling upwards from a grave-side pyre—a solid faith in material value, and its ethereal release.
Etymology
From Cantonese 細絲 /细丝 (sai³ si¹, “fine silk”), variously explained as owing to the bullion's ability to be worked into fine strands or from the resemblance of its luster.
noun
- Any of various gold or silver ingots used as currency in imperial China.
- Imitation ingots made of paper, burnt as an offering in ancestral veneration on Tomb Sweeping Day or during the Ghost Festival.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- sceat 62% match — A small Anglo-Saxon coin, especially one made of silver; sometimes regarded as a weight (and thus a comparative measure of a coin's value). vs sycee →
- chee 60% match — Synonym of mace (“old Chinese unit of weight”). vs sycee →
- senine 57% match — A quantity of silver or gold (see Alma 11:3-8) used as commodity money in the Book of Mormon, worth a measure of barley and equivalent to half of a seon or a judge's daily wage. vs sycee →
- sicle 57% match — A shekel. vs sycee →
- tsien 55% match — Synonym of mace (“old Chinese unit of weight”). vs sycee →
- chequeen 55% match — A gold coin formerly used in Italy and Turkey; a sequin. vs sycee →
- liang 54% match — Synonym of tael, a former Chinese unit of weight (about 40 g) and a related unit of silver currency. vs sycee →
- yue 54% match — Yue ware, a southern Chinese style of celadon-glazed stoneware. vs sycee →