dollar ($) - Synonyms and slang, Related names in modern currencies, National currencies called "dollar", Sources and references

A unit of currency in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and certain other countries. The US dollar is the world's most important currency. Much international trade is conducted in it, and prices of goods and commodities are often quoted in it (notably, the price of oil). Also, over half the official reserves of countries are held in US dollars. US domestic economic policy affects the value of the dollar which, in turn, affects the economies of other nations.

For other uses of this word, see Dollar (disambiguation).

The dollar (represented by the dollar sign: "$") is the name of the official currency in several countries, dependencies and other regions. The United States dollar is the world's most widely circulated currency.

The name "Spanish dollar" was used for a Spanish coin, the peso, worth eight reals (hence the nickname "pieces of eight"), which was widely circulated during the 18th century in the Spanish colonies in the New World. The use of the Spanish dollar and the Maria Theresa thaler as legal tender for the early United States are the reasons for the name of the nation's currency. However, the word dollar was in use in the English language as slang or mis-pronunciation for the thaler for about 200 years before the American Revolution, with many quotes in the plays of Shakespeare referring to dollars as money. Spanish dollars were in circulation in the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States, and were legal tender in Virginia.

Coins known as dollars were also in use in Scotland during the 17th century, and there is a claim that the use of the English word, and perhaps even the use of the coin, began at the University of St Andrews.

In the early 19th century, a British five-shilling piece, or crown, was sometimes called a dollar, probably because its appearance was similar to the Spanish dollar. At the time a U.S. dollar was worth about 5s., so some of the U.S. soldiers started calling it a dollar.

In the early days of the United States, the dollar was a defined unit of trade equal to 412.5 grains (26.73 g) of 90% silver.

Synonyms and slang

The word buck—possibly an abbreviation from "buckskin", an intrinsic "currency" for trade with American Indians known since 1746—has been recorded since 1856 and is widely used as a synonym for the dollars of many countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. "Greenback", a nickname originally applied to a 19th-century United States Demand Note, is now a common specific reference to the U.S. dollar;

Related names in modern currencies

The tala is based on the Samoan pronunciation of the word "dollar".

National currencies called "dollar"

Some of these are called dollars in English, but by a different name in the native language of the country.

The name has also been applied to the international dollar, a hypothetical unit of currency that has the same purchasing power that the U.S. dollar has in the United States at a given point in time.

Sources and references

Etymonline (word history) for "buck" and Etymonline (word history) for "dollar" Thesaurus (synonyms) The Source: Slang Dictionary