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:

     "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
• Marathi: शेकेल (śekel)
• 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) (sikġ)

  Old Armenian: սիկղ (sikł)

• Catalan: sicle (ca) m
• German: Schekel (de) m, Sekel (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: σίγλος m (síglos)

• Hebrew: שקל (he) m (shekel)
• Indonesian: syikal
• Latin: siclus m
• Maori: hekere
• Marathi: शेकेल (śekel)
• 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

French

Alternative forms

• shékel (post-1990 spelling)

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)

Portuguese

Noun

shekel m (plural shekels)

1. sheqel (currency unit in Israel)