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The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813.^[1] It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally worth one English Pound sterling,^[1] equal to twenty shillings; but rises in the price of gold caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings; from 1717 onwards its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings, after Great Britain adopted the gold standard.

The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, where much of the gold used to make the coins originated.^[2] Although no longer circulated, the term guinea survives in some circles, notably horse racing,^[1] and in the sale of rams, to mean an amount of one pound and one shilling (one pound and five pence in decimalised currency), equivalent to 21 shillings or £1.05. The name also forms the basis for the Arabic word for the Egyptian pound الجنيه el-Gineih.