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dollar

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dollar¹

  • /ˈdɒl.ə/ UK
  • /ˈdɔː.lə/ UK
  • /ˈdɑ.lɚ/ Atlantic Canada, US
  • /ˈdɒl.ɚ/ Canadian, Standard
  • /ˈdɔl.ə/ Australia
  • /ˈdɒl.ə/ New Zealand
  • [ˈdɔ̟l.ə] New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɒlə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Attested since the mid-16th century, from early Dutch daler, daalder, from German Taler, Thaler (“dollar”), earlier Joachimsthaler, literally “of Joachimstal”, the town where the original dollars were minted. The name means “(Saint) Joachim's valley”, from Joachim + Tal. Possibly reinforced by the Dutch leeuwendaalder, which was also used in the American colonies. Doublet of taler /thaler and tolar.

noun dollars · dollah · dolla'

  1. Official designation for currency in some parts of the world, including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Its symbol is $. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

    Similar: buck, smackeroo

  2. broadly Money generally. Television, a favored source of news and information, pulls the largest share of advertising monies. In 1935, newspapers received 45 percent of the advertising dollar, magazines 8 percent, and radio 7 percent.
  3. Malaysia, broadly, colloquial A ringgit, a unit of currency in Malaysia.
  4. UK, colloquial, historical A quarter of a pound or one crown, historically minted as a coin of approximately the same size and composition as a then-contemporary dollar coin of the United States, and worth slightly more.
  5. attributive, historical Imported from the United States, and paid for in U.S. dollars. (Note: distinguish "dollar wheat", North American farmers' slogan, meaning a market price of one dollar per bushel.) The restricted purchase of dollar tobacco will, we hope, have the effect of increasing the imports of Turkish and Grecian tobacco
  6. A unit of reactivity equal to the interval between delayed criticality and prompt criticality.

Dollar²

Where it comes from

From Scottish Gaelic Dolair (in Scotland).

proper noun Dollars

  1. countable, uncountable A small town in Clackmannanshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS9698)
  2. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Coosa County, Alabama, United States.
  3. countable, uncountable A former community in Ontario, Canada, now part of the city of Markham.
  4. countable, uncountable A locality in South Gippsland Shire, south eastern Victoria, Australia.
  5. countable, uncountable A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: dollar bill, dollar sign, buck, clam, dollar mark, loonie, dime, penny, franc, greenback, rupee, dinar, yen, krone, pound, euro

Translations

Every language

noun designation for specific currency

Españoldólar
한국어달러 dalleo, 불 bul
日本語ドル doru, 弗 doru
中文圓 /圆 yuán, 元 yuán, 塊 /块 kuài, 塊錢 /块钱 kuài qián, 刀 dāo
हिन्दीडॉलर ḍŏlar, डौलर ḍaular, डालर ḍālar
Kiswahilidola
Portuguêsdólar
Françaisdollar
DeutschDollar
Italianodollaro
Ελληνικάδολλάριο dollário, δολάριο dolário
Românădolar
Русскийдо́ллар dóllar
Tiếng Việtđồng, đô la, đô-la, đồng Mỹ
العربيةدُولَار dūlār
עבריתדּוֹלָר dólar

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MLA

"dollar." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dollar. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

dollar. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dollar

Chicago

"dollar." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dollar.

BibTeX
@misc{dollar_2026,
  title = {dollar},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dollar},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}