contorniate
/kənˈtɔː(ɹ).ni.ət/
contorniate noun: a bronze medal or medallion with a deep furrow on the contour or edge, supposed to have been struck in the days of Constantine and his successors.
Noun
contorniate (plural contorniates)
- A bronze medal or medallion with a deep furrow on the contour or edge, supposed to have been struck in the days of Constantine and his successors.
- Mr. Evans exhibited a fine contorniate, bearing the head of Nero1864, Reginald Stuart Poole, “The Coins of the Ptolemies”, in The numismatic chronicle, volume IV
Adjective
contorniate (not comparable)
- Having a furrow of this kind.
- […] by its close analogy with a more elaborate composition on a contorniate medal of the same Emperor, which was certainly commemorative of that event.1888, Archaeologia Cambrensis, page 141
Forms of contorniate
| plural | contorniates |
|---|
Origin of contorniate
From Italian contorniato, present participle of contorniare (“to make a circuit or outline”).
Questions about contorniate
- What does contorniate mean?
- Contorniate means a bronze medal or medallion with a deep furrow on the contour or edge, supposed to have been struck in the days of Constantine and his successors.
- What part of speech is contorniate?
- Contorniate can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce contorniate?
- Contorniate is pronounced /kənˈtɔː(ɹ).ni.ət/.
- What is the plural of contorniate?
- The plural of contorniate is contorniates.
Words near contorniate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contorniate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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