Ruble
Russia's and Belarus' ruble are named after a measure of weight for silver.
Rand
Like the dollar, South Africa's rand comes from the Dutch name for the South African city Witwatersrand, an area rich in gold.
Pound
The British pound is derived from the Latin word "poundus" meaning "weight."
Egypt, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria call their currency pound.
Dinar
Jordan, Algeria, Serbia, and Kuwait all call their currency "dinar."
This is a pretty straightforward truncation of the Latin word "denarius," which was a silver coin used in ancient Rome.
Dollar
The dollar is the world's most common currency, used in the US, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, and Singapore and elsewhere.
According to OxfordWords, the Flemish or Low German word "joachimsthal" referred to Joachim's Valley, where silver was once mined. Coins minted from this mine became "joachimsthaler," which was later shortened to "thaler" and which eventually morphed into "dollar."
Forint
The Hungarian forint comes from the Italian word "fiorino," a gold coin from Florence.
The fiorino had a flower, or "fiore" in Italian, stamped on it.
Peso
"Peso" literally means "weight" in Spanish.
Rupee
The Sanskrit word for wrought silver is "rupya," which lends its name to the Indian and Pakistani rupee, as well as Indonesia's rupiah.
Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and Korean won
The Chinese character "圓," meaning "round" or "round coin," is responsible for the name of the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and Korean won.
Crown
Many Scandinavian countries use a currency that derives from the Latin word "corona," meaning "crown."
Sweden's krona, Norway's krone, Denmark's krone, Iceland's króna, and the Estonian kroon (now replaced by the euro), and the Czech Republic's koruna all derive from the same Latin root.
Rial
The Latin word "regalis," meaning "royal," is the origin for the Omani and Iranian "rial."
Similarly, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen all use a currency called the "riyal." Before the euro, Spain used "reals" as well.
Mark
Before the euro, the Deutsche mark and the Finnish markka also draw their names from units of weight.
Lira
The Italian and Turkish "lira" come from the Latin word "libra," meaning "pound."
Ringgit
When coins were minted in precious metals, thieves would shave off small portions of the metal to create new coins.
To combat this, countries began minting coins with jagged edges.
The Malaysian word for jagged is "ringgit," the name of the currency.
Zloty
"Zloty" is the Polish word for "golden."
Russia's and Belarus' ruble are named after a measure of weight for silver.
Like the dollar, South Africa's rand comes from the Dutch name for the South African city Witwatersrand, an area rich in gold.
The British pound is derived from the Latin word "poundus" meaning "weight."
Egypt, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria call their currency pound.
Jordan, Algeria, Serbia, and Kuwait all call their currency "dinar."
This is a pretty straightforward truncation of the Latin word "denarius," which was a silver coin used in ancient Rome.
The dollar is the world's most common currency, used in the US, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, and Singapore and elsewhere.
According to OxfordWords, the Flemish or Low German word "joachimsthal" referred to Joachim's Valley, where silver was once mined. Coins minted from this mine became "joachimsthaler," which was later shortened to "thaler" and which eventually morphed into "dollar."
The Hungarian forint comes from the Italian word "fiorino," a gold coin from Florence.
The fiorino had a flower, or "fiore" in Italian, stamped on it.
"Peso" literally means "weight" in Spanish.
The Sanskrit word for wrought silver is "rupya," which lends its name to the Indian and Pakistani rupee, as well as Indonesia's rupiah.
The Chinese character "圓," meaning "round" or "round coin," is responsible for the name of the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and Korean won.
Many Scandinavian countries use a currency that derives from the Latin word "corona," meaning "crown."
Sweden's krona, Norway's krone, Denmark's krone, Iceland's króna, and the Estonian kroon (now replaced by the euro), and the Czech Republic's koruna all derive from the same Latin root.
The Latin word "regalis," meaning "royal," is the origin for the Omani and Iranian "rial."
Similarly, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen all use a currency called the "riyal." Before the euro, Spain used "reals" as well.
Before the euro, the Deutsche mark and the Finnish markka also draw their names from units of weight.
The Italian and Turkish "lira" come from the Latin word "libra," meaning "pound."
When coins were minted in precious metals, thieves would shave off small portions of the metal to create new coins.
To combat this, countries began minting coins with jagged edges.
The Malaysian word for jagged is "ringgit," the name of the currency.
"Zloty" is the Polish word for "golden."
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