piastre

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a coin or monetary unit of varying value, especially a Spanish piece of eight or an Ottoman currency unit

   The cargo was valued at seventeen million piastres in the merchant's account.

2. 2
   noun

   a monetary subunit equal to one hundredth of a pound in several Middle Eastern countries

   The receipt listed the price in pounds and piastres.

Borrowed from French piastre, from Italian piastra ('metal plate; coin'), ultimately from Late Latin emplastrum ('plaster, plate'). The term was applied to broad silver coins and later to several currencies and subunits.

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