vintem

Meanings

1. 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.

2. 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.

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.

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