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The Fascinating Hobby of World Banknote Collecting

World banknotes are often colorful engraved pieces of art depicting the history, economy, geography and people of countries from around the world.

For a beginner, this hobby can be an inexpensive way to explore the world, let’s take a look.

The Beauty of Banknote Art

Banknotes can be works of art

Each year the international Banknote Society selects a Banknote of the Year. Here are a few past winners.

www.theibns.org/joomla/index.php

Discover World Geography

Do you know the difference between Guinea and Guyana? How about Slovakia and Slovenia? Sri Lanka and Ceylon (Trick Question)?

You will once you start collecting.

Explore World Economic Conditions

Imagine a country that issues a 1 cent note and a 100 Trillion Dollar banknote all within a year.

It happened in Zimbabwe in 2007 & 2008.

Sometimes inflation happens so fast that old notes are overprinted with new values.

A Brazil 5,000 Cruzados note becomes a 5 Cruzados Novos

Banknote collecting can be inexpensive

One can buy 50 different notes for under $20 on eBay.

TIPS: Be sure to collect Uncirculated banknotes as they can be traded and hold value better than commonly circulated notes.

Banknotes from high inflation countries tend to be very inexpensive to collect, often under $1 each.

World Currencies

Ever hear of a Florin, Manat, Real, Escudo, Colon or a Sucre?

Name of Currency	Country	Meaning
Afghani	Afghanistan	derived from country name: “that belongs to or that is from Afghanistan”
Agora / Agorot	Israel (coins)	Old Hebrew: אגורה – Agora. The name was suggested by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and was borrowed from Torah “agorat kessef” meaning “a piece of silver”. >אגורות – Agorot is the plural form.
Akşa	Tuva (old)	In Tuvanian and in other Turkic languages: Akşa (pronounced as Aksha) means “Money”. It was the currency of the People’s Republic of Tuva from 1921 till 1944 when Tuva joined the USSR.
Angolar	Angola (old)	Portuguese: Angolar means “of Angola”
Anna	India, Burma, Pakistan (old coins)	Word is borrowed from Hindi word ānā which has the Sanskrit root aṇu – “small”
Ariary	Madagacar	17th century currency unit consisting of 720 Variraiventy, a piece of silver equal to the weight of a rice grain. Ariary system is a nondecimal one which is divided into 5 Iraimbilaja
At	Laos (coins)	derived from Thai At, a former coin worth one-eighth of a Füang
Auksinas	Lithuania (old)	derived from Auksas: “gold” in Lithuanian (with special thanks to Audrius from Lithuania)
Aurar	Iceland (coins)	Plural of Eyrir from Old Norse “money”, probably from Latin Aurum “gold”
Austral	Argentina	Latin: “Australis” – coming from the South, Southern, “Auster” – the South wind
Avo	Macao (coins)	Portuguese shortened from Oitavo “eighth” from Latin Octvus “eighth”
Baht	Thailand	Thai: บาท – Baht is a weight unit of 15 grams – Upto 1940’s the currency of Thailand was Tical which was 15 grams of silver
Baiza	Oman (coins)	derived from the Hindi Paisa “a quarter”
Balboa	Panama	Vasco Nunez de Balboa – Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519)
Ban / Bani	Romania (coins)	Ban means “money” in Romanian. Bani is the plural form
Birr	Ethiopia	In Amharic (language of Ethiopia) Birr means “to be white”
Bolivar	Venezuela	Simon Bolivar – Venezuelan statesman who revolted against Spanish rule, founded Bolivia in 1825 (1783-1830)
Boliviano	Bolivia	Meaning Bolivian in Spanish. The country Bolivia itself was named after Simon Bolivar. (With special thanks to Don Cleveland)
Cash	China (old)	Please see Wen
Cedi	Ghana	In Akan (a native language of Ghana) Cedi is a “small shell”
Cent, Centavo, Centime	Many countries	Latin: “centum” – a hundred, used in the meaning of “a hundredth”
Chon	Korea	Korean: 전 – Chon (also spelled as Jeon) means 1/10. 1 Won is divided into 10 Chon.
Colon	El Salvador, Costa Rica	Cristobal Colon is the Spanish name of Christopher Columbus, explorer who discovered America (1451-1506)
Cordoba	Nicaragua	Francisco Fernandez Cordoba – Spanish explorer who discovered Yucatan (1475-1526)
Cruzado	Brazil	from the Portuguese verb “Cruzar: to bear a cross” – early Portuguese gold or silver coins that beared a cross on reverse
Cruzeiro	Brazil	from Portuguese word: Cruz – “Cross”
Dalasi	Gambia	A Gambian native name
Denar	Macedonia	derived from Latin: “Denarius” – Silver Money
Dinar	Many countries	Dinar is derived from Latin: “Denarius” – Silver Money
Dinara Srebru	Serbia	Serbian: “Silver Dinar”
Dinara Zlatu	Serbia	Serbian: “Gold Dinar”
Dirham	Morocco, UAE	Arabic: درهم – Dirham is derived from the Old Greek word “Drakhme” which came to Latin as “Drachma” meaning “a handful”
Dobra	St.Thomas and Principe	Portuguese: Fold, folding
Dollar	USA and many other countries	from 16th century German: “Thaler” a short form of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic
Dong	Vietnam	Vietnamese: đồng – literally “copper” or “bronze”, in modern Vietnamese Dong means “currency”. 1 Dong is divided into 10 Hào.
Drachma	Greece	Old Greek: δραχμή – Drakhme meaning “a handful” derived from the verb δράττω – dratto “to grasp”. It is also an ancient unit of weight equal to 60 grains.
Dram	Armenia	Armenian: Դրամ – Dram means “money” which was derived from the Greek word “Drachma”.
Ducat	Austria, Germany, Holland and many other countries	Derived from Ducatus – the Latin word for Duchy, which is ultimately derived from Latin Ducis: Duke.
Emalangeni	Swaziland	In Swati language Langeni means money; Emalangeni is used as plural and Lilangeni is singular
Euro	European Union	derived from Europe. This name was the winning choice in a contest in 1996, and was invented by a group of scholars in Spain. (with special thanks to Roberto Cacciamani)
Escudo	Portugal, Cape Verde	Portuguese: Shield displaying coat of arms; from Latin: Scutum
Fen	China	Chinese: 分 – Fen means 1/100. 1 Yuan is divided into 100 Fen. (with special thanks to Kevin Au from Canada)
Fenniga	Bosnia and Herzegovina	derived from the German “Pfennig”
Filira	Croatia	Croatian cognate of the Hungarian Filler.
Filler	Hungary	In Hungarian Filler means “a very small amount of money”
Fils	Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, UAE, Yemen (coins)	In Arabic the word Fals or Fils is derived from Latin word Follis meaning “piece of money”
Forint	Hungary	from Italian word “Fiorino” – Florin
Franc	France and other French speaking countries	14th century French word derived from Latin phrase: Rex Francorum – King of the Franks, inscribed on 14th century francs.
Fun	Korea (old coins)	Korean: 분 – Fun is the cognate of Chinese Fen. 1 Whan, a silver Dollar, was divided into 500 Fun. (with special thanks to Kevin Au from Canada)
Gourde	Haiti	A tropical American evergreen that produces large round gourds
Gros	Czech Rep. (Former Bohemia)	Pronounced as grosh. Name of the coin equal to the one-thirtieth of a Thaler. The word is adopted from Latin (Denarius) Grossus: lit. “A thick coin” where grossus being “thick”
Groschen	Germany and Austria (coins)	Derived from the Czech Gros, ultimately from Latin Grossus
Grosz	Poland (coins)	Grosz was a 3.2 gr. silver coin equivalent of 12 Denarius in the 14th century in Poland. Derived from Latin Grossus
Guarani	Paraguay	Indigenous people living in Paraguay and Bolivia
Gulden	Holland, Surinam, Netherlands Antilles	Dutch: Golden
Haler	Czech Republic (coins)	derived from the German “Haller”
Halier	Slovakia (coins)	derived from the German “Haller”
Hào	Vietnam	Originally Hào is a unit of weight in Vietnam equal to 3.77 miligrams. In currency terms it is used as one tenth of a Dong.
Heller / Haller	Germany (coins)	from SchwäbischHall, town near Stuttgart where the coins were minted
Hryvnia	Ukraine	Hryvnia was the currency unit of the Kievian Rus in the 11th century. Originally the word meant “neck” and used for the valuable things worn around the neck.
Hwan	Korea (old)	Korean: 환 – Hwan derived from Chinese 元 Yuan, was the currency unit in South Korea from 1953 till 1962.
Inti	Peru	a regional word from Quechua, Peru meaning “Sun” the principal god of Inca culture (with special thanks to Massimo Accordi)
Iraimbilanja	Madagacar (coins)	Iriambilanja means “one iron weight” in Madagascar language which is one fifth of an Ariary
Jeon	Korea	Korean: 전 – Jeon (also spelled as Chon) means 1/10. 1 Won is divided into 10 Jeon.
Jiao	China	Chinese: 角 – Jiao means 1/10. 1 Yuan is divided into 10 Jiao. (with special thanks to Kevin Au from Canada)
Karbovanetz	Ukraine, Belarus	The name given to Ruble in Ukraine and Belarus derived from German word Kerbe: To carve, to cut; same as the meaning of the Ruble (with special thanks to Philippe Simon from France)
Khoums	Mauritania (coins)	from Arabic word Khoums “fifth”, 1 Ouguiya is divided into 5 Khoums
Kina	Papua New Guinea	Kina means “pearl shell” in Pidgin and Kuanua languages
Kip	Laos	In Lao language Kip means “ingot”, a mold in which metal is cast
Kobo	Nigeria (coins)	derived from the English “copper” penny
Kopeck / Kopek	Russia, Belarus, Ukraine (coins)	Kopeika is derived from “kopyo” meaning “spear”, from the image of a rider with a spear on the coins minted by Moscow after the capture of Novgorod in 1478
Koruna	Czech Rep., Slovakia	Czech: Crown, head from Latin “Corona”
Kran / Qiran	Iran (old)	Persian قران – Kran was 1000 Dinar or one tenth of a Toman. The Rial replaced Kran in 1932.
Krone	Scandinavian currencies	Latin: Corona – “Crown”
Kroon	Estonia	Latin: Corona – “Crown”
Kuan / Guàn	China (old)	Chinese 贯 – Guàn literally means “string the cash coins together (old Chinese coins had a whole in center)”. Guàn is an old unit equal to 1000 coins. (with special thanks to Fung Nai Chuen – moneyissuer from Hong Kong)
Kuan Wen Sheng / Guàn Wen Sheng	China (old)	Chinese 贯文省 / 贯聞省 – Guàn Wen Sheng in Chinese literally means “string the cash coins together”. It is an old unit equal to 770 / 800 cash coins used between 1168 – 1279 AD. (with special thanks to Alex Fung – moneyissuer from Hong Kong)
Kuna	Croatia	Croatian : “Marten” – a small furred animal, as its fur was unit of exchange in medieval trading
Kurus	Turkey (coins)	Pronounced as Kurush, derived from the Austrian Groschen, ultimately from Latin Grossus
Kwacha	Malawi, Zambia	In Bemba (Zambian language): “Dawn” symbolizes the Zambian nationalist slogan “New dawn of freedom”
Kwanza	Angola	In Swahili the word literally means “the first fruits”, but the currency takes its name from Kwanza River in Angola
Kyat	Myanmar (formerly Burma)	Burmese: Kyat (pronounced as chat) literally means “round” and “flat”. Kyat has been used in the 19th century as unit of mass, approximately 16.33 grams.
Lari	Georgia	In old Georgian langauge ლარი – Lari means “hoard” or “property”
Lats	Latvia	Derives from “Latvija”: Latvia in Latvian language, Lati and Latu are plural forms (with special thanks to Audrius from Lithuania)
Lek	Albania	Named after 15th century Albanian feudal lord Lek Dukagjini
Lempira	Honduras	Lempira is an Indian Chief who opposed the Spanish
Leone	Sierre Leone	derived from country name
Lepton	Greece (coins)	Lepton (plural Lepta) means “small” or “thin” in Greek
Leu	Romania, Moldova	Romanian: “Lion”
Lev	Bulgaria	Bulgarian: “Lion”, the plural form is Leva
Leva Srebrni / Srebro	Bulgaria	Bulgarian: “Silver Leva”
Leva Zlatni / Zlato	Bulgaria	Bulgarian: “Gold Leva”
Lilangeni	Swaziland	In Swati language Langeni means money; li- is the singular prefix and ema- is the plural prefix
Lira	Italy, Turkey, Vatican, Malta, San Marino	Latin: “Libra” – “scales” or “pound”
Lirot	Israel	Hebrew לירות – Lirot is simply plural of לירה “Lira”
Lisente	Lesotho	Plural of Sente which is derived from “Cent”
Litas	Lithuania	Derives from “Lietuva”: Lithuania in Lithuanian language, Litai and Litu are plural forms (with special thanks to Audrius from Lithuania)
Loti	Lesotho	In Sesotho (language of Lesotho) Loti is the singular form of Maloti
Lumma	Armenia (coins)	derived from Armenian Lumay “small coin” which comes from Greek Noummos “current coin”
Maloti	Lesotho	Maloti is the name of a mountain chain where there is the highest peak in South Africa
Manat	Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan	derived from the Russian word for coins “manyeta” (spells as “moneta”) which comes from Latin Moneta, “mint, money”
Mark	Germany	Old English: “Marc” is a unit of weight of precious metals perhaps from the marks on metal bars.
Marka	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Konvertibilna Marka is derived from German “Mark”, established by Dayton Agreement in 1995
Markkaa	Finland	Its etymology is the same as “Mark”
Mecidiye / Medjidie	Turkey (old coins)	Coins minted during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid or Sultan Mecid as more commonly called, which is pronounced as Medjid in Turkish
Metical	Mozambique	Derived from Arabic Mitqal: a weight measuring unit used for gold and other precious metals. Plural in Portuguese is Meticais. (with special thanks to H.E. Marc van den Reeck from Belgium)
Millimes	Tunusia (coins)	from French Millième “thousandth” which comes from Latin Millesimus “thousandth”
Mohru / Mohar	Nepal (old)	Originally the Nepalese word is मोहर् – Mohar derived from Persian Muhr “seal”. 1 Mohar (Mohru) was an 8 anna silver piece. Mohru was replaced by Rupee in 1932 at a rate of 2 Mohru equal to 1 Rupee.
Mongo	Mongolia (coins)	Mongolian: мөнгө pronounced as Möngö means “silver”. 1 Tugrik is divided into 100 Mongo.
Mun	Korea (old)	Korean: 文 – Mun was a cognate of the Chinese 文 – Wen meaning “cash”
Naira	Nigeria	Altered from the word “Nigeria”
Nakfa	Eritrea	Nak’fa is a town in Eritrea that became the symbol of Eritrean resistance
Ngultrum	Bhutan	Dzongkha: དངུལ་ཀྲམ – Pronounced as “Engultrum”. “Ngul” means “silver” and “trum” means “money” in Dzongkha, a Tibetan language.
Notgeld	Germany	German: Notgeld is “emergency money” issued in Germany and Austria during economic crises. Although it is neither a currency unit nor legal tender, notgeld is still a specialised category in bank note collecting.
øre / Öre	Sweden, Denmark, Norway (coins)	from Old Norse Eyrir “gold coin” which comes from Latin Aureus “gold coin” from Aurum “gold”
Ostmark	German controlled Eastern Europe	German: Ostmark is literally “East Mark”. The German Dahrlenskassen issued this currency in 1918 to be used in the German controlled Eastern Europe at that time. Later GDR Mark was colloqually called Ostmark.
Ouguiya	Mauritania	a native word in Mauritania, Ouguiya system is nondecimal which is divided into 5 Khoums
Pa’anga	Tonga	Tongan: “Bean shaped pieces”
Pahlavi	Iran	Belonging or related to the Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran
Paisa	India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh (coins)	derived from Sanskrit word Padamsah which means a “quarter”
Pang	China (antique)	Chinese 朋 – Pang is an antique unit equal to about 10 cypraea shells. Cypraea shells formed the base of the Chinese Moneraty System. (with special thanks to Fung Nai Chuen – moneyissuer from Hong Kong)
Papiermark	Germany	Literally “paper mark” in German. As a result of hyperinflation after WWI Mark became worthless and was called Papiermark. In 1923 Rentenmark was introduced at the exchange rate of 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) Marks.
Para	Turkey (old), Yugoslavia (old)	From Persian word Pare which means “a piece”. In Ottoman currency system 1 Kurus was composed of 40 Paras. In today’s Turkish Para means “Money”.
Pataca	Macao	Portuguese: “Paw”
Pence / Pennies	England	Plural of Penny
Pengő	Hungary (old)	Hungarian: Pengő – meaning “twang”. Probably derived from the sound of a coin when thrown.
Pennia	Finland (coins)	derived from the German “Pfennig”
Penny	England	In Old English it was Penig which was derived from Pfenning which means “coin” in Old High German
Perper	Montenegro	Derives from a 21 carat gold coin minted by the Byzantine Emperor Alexis I in 1092. The coin was called in Greek Hyperpyron meaning “Highly refined” whereas in Latin Perperum (with special thanks to Philippe Simon from France)
Peseta	Spain	diminutive of Peso
Pesewa	Ghana (coins)	In Akan (a native language of Ghana) Pésewabo is a seed of a plant, formerly used as the smallest gold weight
Peso	Many Spanish speaking countries	Spanish: “Weight”
Peso Oro	Dominican Republic, Paraguay	Spanish: “Gold Peso”
Pfennig / Pfennigs	Germany	derived from Pfenning which means “coin” in Old High German
Pfeniga	Bosnia and Herzegovina	derived from the German “Pfennig”
Piaster / Piastre	Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria	derived from Italian Piastra “thin metal plate”
Poisha	Bangladesh (coins)	In Bengali Poisha is a “quarter” which is derived from the Hindi “Paisa”
Pound Sterling	England and many other countries	Old English: “Pund” from Latin word: “Pondus” – Weight; Sterling is drived from old English word “Steorra” – Star, referring to a small star on early Norman pennies
Pruta / Prutah	Israel (coins)	Hebrew פרוטה – Pruta means a “coin of small value”.
Pul	Afghanistan (coins)	from Persian word Pul which means “money”
Pula	Botswana	In Setswana (the language of Botswana) Pula means “Rain”
Punt	Ireland	Irish Gaelic: Pound
Qepiq	Azerbaijan (coins)	Derived from Russian “Kopeika”
Qindarka	Albania (coins)	In Albanian Qint / Qind (pronounced as chint) is a hundred and Qindarka is “one hundredth”
Quetzal	Guatemala	Spanish: a kind of bird; zool: Pharomachrus mocinno
Rand	South Africa	Named after Witwatersrand a region of northeast South Africa where the richest gold-mining areas in the world are located
Real	Brazil	Portuguese: 1) Royal, 2)Actual, 3)Real
Reichsmark	Germany	German: Reich is literally “realm” or “empire”. Reichsmark was the official currrency of Germany from 1924 until 1948.
Renminbi Yuan	P.R. of China	Chinese: 人民幣 – “Renminbi” is the “People’s currency”; 元 or 圆 “Yuan” is literally “round object”
Rentenmark	Germany	Bank notes issued by the Rentenbank (Annuity Bank) were called Rentenmark. It was an interim currency introduced to stop the hyperinflation in 1923. In 1924 Reichsmark succeeded Rentenmark.
Rial	Iran, Oman	Persian ريال – Rial is a cognate of the Arabic “Riyal” which is derived from the Spanish word “Real”
Riel	Cambodia	In Khmer language Riel means “the one that shines, shinny”
Riffan	Riff Republic (present Morocco)	Derived from the name of the self-proclaimed state Riff Republic in 1921. The word originates from Arabic الريف – er-Rif meaning “countryside”.
Rigsdaler	Denmark (old)	Danish: Rigsdaler – “Thaler of the realm” The currrency of Denmark until 1873 which was divided into 96 Skilling.
Riksdaler	Sweden, Norway (old)	Norwegian/Swedish: Riksdaler – “Thaler of the realm”. The currrency of Sweden until 1873 which was divided into 48 Skillingar. Riksdaler courant in Norway was used until 1813 and was divided into 96 Skilling.
Ringgit	Malaysia, Brunei	In Malay Ringgit means “jagged” and was origianally used to refer to the serrated edges of the Spanish silver coins widely used in the area.
Riyal	Many Arabic speaking countries	derived from the from Spanish word “real” meaning “royal”
Rubel	Belarus	derived from the Russian “Ruble”
Ruble	Russia	Russian: Pубль – Rubl “silver bar” from the Russian verb “Rubit”- “to cut up”
Rufiyaa	Maldives	derived from “Rupee”
Rupee	India, Pakistan, Nepal and others	from Sanskrit word “Rupya” – Silver
Rupiah	Indonesia	derived from “Rupee”
Satang	Thailand (coins)	Thai สตางค์ – Satang is one hundredth of a Baht.
Scudo	Papal States, Malta (old)	Italian: Scudo, like Escudo, is also derived from Latin Scutum – “shield”. So called because the coins had a shield bearing a coat of arms. Scudo was the currency of the Papal States until 1866 and was divided into 100 Baiocchi.
Sen	Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, Cambodia	derived from “Cent”
Sene	Western Samoa	derived from “Cent”
Seniti	Tonga (coins)	derived from “Cent”
Senti	Estonia (coins)	derived from “Cent”
Shahi	Iran, Afghanistan, India (old)	In Persian, Shahi means that belongs to or related to the “Shah” – King. So the word may be interpreted as “Royal”. Also in ancient India and Afghanistan there were rulers called Shahi.
Shahiv	Ukraine	Ukrainian шагiв – Shahiv is the plural form of Shah which was originally a silver coin egual to 3 grosz in the Polish-Lithuanian Union in 17th-18th centuries. Shahiv money stamps were used in the Ukrainian People’s Republic.
Shekel / Sheqel	Israel	Hebrew: שקל – Shekel literally means “weight” and was used as a unit of weight of around 12 grams. Plural form is Sheqalim.
Shilling	UK (old), Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania etc	from the Old English and Old High German verb “Scilling” – “to divide”
Skilling	Sweden, Norway (old)	Swedish and Norwegian cognate of the Shilling
Sol	Peru	Sol stays for Sun, meaning the “God of Sun” the principal god for Inca culture (with special thanks to Massimo Accordi)
Soldo	Italy (old coins)	Derived from Latin Solidus. Plural form is Soldi.
Solidus	Ancient Rome	In Latin “nummus solidus” means “solid coin”. The coin was originally gold therefore it was “solid”. The English word “soldier” derives from this word as they were paid with such coins.
Som	Kyrghyzstan	Kyrghyz: “Pure” (gold)
Somoni	Tajikistan	named in the honour of Ismoil Somoni (849-907) – the founder of the first Samanid (Tajik) State
Sou / Sol until 1715	France	Sou is a derivation of Sol which is derived from the Latin Solidus. Sou is a slang word for “money” in French today.
Speciedaler	Norway (old)	Speciedaler was the currency of Norway from 1816 till 1875. It was divided into 120 Skilling. Krona replaced Speciedaler when Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union in 1875.
Srang	Tibet	Srang, pronounced as sung in Tibet language, is a unit of weight equal to Chinese Liang about 37.50 grams (with special thanks to Phub from Bhutan)
Stotinki	Bulgaria (coins)	derived from the Slavic word Sto a “hundred” meaning “hundredth”
Stotin	Slovenia (coins)	derived from the Slavic word Sto a “hundred” meaning “hundredth”
Sucre	Equador	Antonio Jose de Sucre – South American liberator who revolted against Spain, first president of Bolivia (1795-1830)
Sueldo	Spain (old coins)	Derived from Latin Solidus. Also means “salary” in today’s Spanish.
Sum / Som	Uzbekistan	pronounced as Som – Uzbek: “Pure” (gold)
Tael	China (old)	Chinese: 兩 – Liyang – a unit of weight equal to 40 grams (of silver). Today the unit is still used for weight measuring. In China it means 50 grams, whereas im Hong Kong 37.429 grams. The English word Tael originates from Malay tahil meaning “grain” which has its root in Arabic dahl – “grain”.
Taka	Bangladesh	Bengali word Taka comes from Sanskrit word Tankah.
Tala	Western Samoa	derived from English “Dollar”
Tallero	Eritrea (old)	Derived from German Thaler. It was the currency unit in Eritrea from 1890 till 1921.
Tam / Trum	Tibet	In Tibet language Tam / Trum means “money”. (with special thanks to Phub from Bhutan)
Tambala	Malawi (coins)	In Chewa (a Bantu language spoken in Malawi) Tambala is a “cockerel”
Tamlung	Thailand	in Thailand, Tamlung is a unit weight equal to 60 grams.
Tanga	Tajikistan (coins)	derived from the Uzbek Tenga
Tangka	Tibet	Derived from Sanskrit word Tankah.
Tankah	India (old coins)	Sanskrit word Tankah means a “stamped coin” which may be related to Mongolian Tamga “stamp, seal” or Turkic Tenge “balance”
Tenga	Uzbekistan (Buhara – old)	Uzbek (and also other Turkic languages): “balance, scales”, from Mongolian Tenkhe, from Chinese Tengse: “balance”
Tenge	Kazakhstan	Kazakh (and also other Turkic languages): “balance, scales”, from Mongolian Tenkhe, from Chinese Tengse: “balance”
Tenne	Turkmenistan (coins)	Turkmen (and also other Turkic languages): “balance, scales”, from Mongolian Tenkhe, from Chinese Tengse: “balance”
Tetri	Georgia (coins)	Georgian: “white”, due to the silver coins minted in ancient Georgia
Thaler	Germany (old), Ethiopia (old)	As the Dollar, from 16th century German: “Thaler” a short for of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic
Thebe	Botswana (coins)	In Setswana (the language of Botswana) Thebe means “shield”
Tical	Thailand, Burma (old)	Burmese: Tical is a small unit of weight roughly equal to 5 grams.
Toea	Papua New Guinea (coins)	Toea is a very valuable shell used for trading found in the depths of the ocean
Tolar	Slovenia	Derived from the German word “Thaler” as the “Dollar”.
Toman	Iran (old)	Persian: تومان – Toman: A gold coin formerly used in Persia worth 10,000 Dinars, the word comes from Turkish Tümen which ultimately comes from Mongolian Tümen meaning “a unit of ten thousand”
Tugrik	Mongolia	Mongolian: төгрөг pronounced as Tögrög – meaning “round”
Wen	China (old)	Chinese: 文 – Wen means “cash”. This unit is shown in the catalogs as Cash. The Wen notes are the first officially circulating banknotes in the world dating as back 960 A.D. In 1889 Yuan was introduced at the rate of 1000 Wen.
Whan	Korea (old)	Korean: 圜 – Whan was equal to 5 Yang later became Won.
Won	Korea	Korean: 원 or 전 – Won (pronounced like on) derived from Chinese 元 Yuan
Xu	Vietnam	Xu is derived from the French Sou
Yang	Korea (old)	Korean: 兩 – Yang is the cognate of Chinese 兩 – Liyang. Yang was the currency unit of Korea between 1892-1902.
Yen	Japan	Japanese: 円 – Yen – from Chinese 元 Yuan
Yuan	China	Chinese: 元 or 圆 – Yuan: literally “a round object”
Zaire	Congo Democratic Republic, Zaire	The word Zaire is derived from the Kikongo (an ethnic language in Congo) word nzere meaning “river”. It refers to Congo River where the country takes its name. Congo originally means a “hunter”.
Zloty	Poland	Polish: Golden