Word.ws English Dictionary

sestertius

sestertius noun: a large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at two and a half asses (a quarter of a denarius).

sestertius: a large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at...
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Noun

sestertius (plural sestertii)

  1. (historical) A large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at two and a half asses (a quarter of a denarius).
    Synonyms:
    sesterce

Synonyms of sestertius

Forms of sestertius

pluralsestertii

Origin of sestertius

From Latin sēstertius (“that is two-and-a-half”), from sēmis (“half”) + tertius (“third”), in which “third” refers to the third as: the sestertius was worth two full asses and half of a third.

Questions about sestertius

What does sestertius mean?
Sestertius means a large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at two and a half asses (a quarter of a denarius).
What part of speech is sestertius?
Sestertius is a noun.
What is the plural of sestertius?
The plural of sestertius is sestertii.

Words near sestertius in the dictionary

  1. sesterterpenoids
  2. sesterterpenyl
  3. sestertia
  4. sestertii
  5. sestertium
  6. sestertius
  7. sestet
  8. sestets
  9. sestett
  10. sestette
  11. sestettes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sestertius (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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