piaster

or pi·as·tre

[ pee-as-ter, -ah-ster ]

noun

1. a former coin of Turkey, one 100th of a lira: replaced by the kurus in 1933.
2. a monetary unit of Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, one 100th of a pound.
3. a former monetary unit of South Vietnam: replaced by the dong in 1976.
4. the former peso or dollar of Spain and Spanish America.

Word History and Origins

Origin of piaster¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from French piastre, from Italian piastra “thin sheet of metal, silver coin” (short for piastra d'argento, literally, “plate of silver”), akin to piastro plaster

Example Sentences

“Eventually,” he said, “one of the people back there is going to start thinking about collecting the twenty-thousand piaster reward and the gold medal the VC gives out for a dead American.”

From Literature

"It is time for the 5 piaster loaf to increase in price," Sisi said at the opening of a food production plant.

From Reuters

“Don’t tell Orr I gave it to you. I charged him two piasters for his.”

From Literature

Peewee paid them three hundred piasters, about three dollars, for four bottles of the hair stuff and the feet stuff.

From Literature

He found a pouch of rice, a comb, a fingernail clipper, a few soiled piasters, a snapshot of a young woman standing in front of a parked motorcycle.

From Literature