Meanings
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1
noun
historical: a small Portuguese or Portuguese colonial coin worth twenty reis
The traveler paid a few vintems for fruit at the island market.
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2
noun
historical: a small unit of mass, about 112 milligrams, formerly used especially for weighing gold dust
The assayer recorded the remaining gold dust as a fraction of a vintem.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from Portuguese vintem, now written vintém, from vinte, 'twenty,' ultimately from Latin viginti. The coin was named for its value of twenty reis; English also used the unaccented borrowing for a small gold-dust weight.