Word
simon
Phoneticssi·mon
/ˈsaɪmən/
Definitions
01male name
n. a common first name for a man.
n. a male given name derived from the Hebrew name Shim'on.
“Simon is starting his new job at the bank next Monday.”
“The biblical Simon, later known as Peter, is a central figure in the New Testament narratives.”
02sixpence coin
n. an old British coin worth six pence.
n. a historical British sixpence coin. The term is typically encountered in nineteenth-century literature.
“The old man found a dusty simon at the bottom of his coat pocket.”
“In the Victorian era, a simon was a common slang term for a sixpence among the working classes of London.”
British English · Archaic · Slang
Usage
Usually written with a lowercase 's' when referring to the coin.
Synonyms
03one dollar
n. an old word for a one-dollar bill.
n. a historical American slang term for a US dollar.
“He didn't have a single simon left to buy a loaf of bread.”
“The character in the period novel complained that he hadn't earned a simon for his week of hard labour.”
American English · Archaic · Slang
Usage
Usually written with a lowercase 's' when referring to the currency.
Real-World Examples
“You need both and you can't have one without the other, according to Dr Simon Williams, a theoretical physicist at Durham University.” Etymology
From Middle English Simon, Symond, Symounde, from Anglo-Norman Simon, Simond, Simund, a conflation of two unrelated names: one from Latin Simon, from Ancient Greek Σίμων (Símōn), from Biblical Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן (šimʿōn, “hearkening”), doublet of Simeon; the other from Old Norse Sigmundr or Old English Siġemund, both from Proto-Germanic *Sigimunduz (literally “Protector of victory”), whence also Sigmund and Siegmund.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/simon