an ancient Roman coin made either of silver or bronze and equal in value to two denarii
antoninianus in American English
(ˌæntəˌnɪniˈeinəs)
nounWord forms: plural-ni (-nai)
a Roman coin of the 3rd century a.d., originally of silver but later debased
Word origin
[‹ L Antōnīniānus pertaining to antoninus, equiv. to Antōnīn(us) + -iānus-ian]-ian is a suffix occurring originally in adjectives borrowed from Latin, formed from nounsdenoting places (Italian) or persons (Flavian), and now productively forming English adjectives by extension of the Latin pattern.Attached to geographical names, it denotes provenance or membership (Washingtonian), the latter sense now extended to membership in social classes, religious denominations,etc. (Episcopalian; pedestrian). Attached to personal names, it has the additional senses “contemporary with” ( Victorian) or “proponent of” (Hegelian; Freudian) the person specified by the noun base. It also occurs in a set of personal nouns,mainly loanwords from French, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works withthe referent of the base noun (comedian; grammarian; theologian)