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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

jitney.

Synonym of nickel, a 5-cent coin or amount.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈd͡ʒɪtni//ˈʒiː-/
  1. Synonym of nickel, a 5-cent coin or amount.

    US · archaic
  2. Synonym of minibus, especially one with a scheduled fixed route.

  3. Synonym of gypsy cab, an unlicensed taxi.

  4. Synonym of shared taxi, a taxi usually shared with strangers to maximize profitability per trip.

  5. An informal lawn bowling, curling, or darts competition in which all players present are randomly drawn into teams.

    Canada
  6. A fraudulent arrangement whereby a broker who has direct access to an exchange executes trades on behalf of a broker who does not.

Where this word comes from

1886, originally for a five-cent US coin (a nickel); use for taxis and buses due to these services originally charging five cents as fare, popularized circa 1915. The etymology is uncertain; it is believed to originate from Louisiana Creole jetnée, from French jeton (“token, coin-sized metal disc”), though this is disputed. Evidence for the Louisiana Creole French origin includes the geographic distribution (Southeastern US, especially Black/African-American), and early spelling as gitney, which is common French spelling for the /ʒi/ pronunciation.

adj/ˈd͡ʒɪtni//ˈʒiː-/
  1. Synonym of cheap, very inexpensive.

    US · archaic · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

1886, originally for a five-cent US coin (a nickel); use for taxis and buses due to these services originally charging five cents as fare, popularized circa 1915. The etymology is uncertain; it is believed to originate from Louisiana Creole jetnée, from French jeton (“token, coin-sized metal disc”), though this is disputed. Evidence for the Louisiana Creole French origin includes the geographic distribution (Southeastern US, especially Black/African-American), and early spelling as gitney, which is common French spelling for the /ʒi/ pronunciation.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.