Dinar

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdiːnɑː(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A unit of currency used in several countries, primarily in the Middle East and North Africa
2. A monetary denomination primarily recognized in various nations throughout the Middle Eastern and North African regions
3. This currency is officially used in multiple countries, predominantly in the Middle East and parts of North Africa

Etymology: The coin's ancestor was a Roman silver piece. The Latin "dēnārius" meant "containing ten" (from "deni," ten at a time), and it was the standard silver coin of the Roman Republic and early Empire, worth ten of the older bronze asses. Through Arabic, where the name became "dīnār," it passed into the currencies of the Islamic world, and the word arrived in Serbo-Croatian in the same form. The English word "dinar" is therefore a borrowing from the Arabic rather than from Latin directly. Its relatives in other European languages show the same Roman root taking different routes: "denier," "denar," "dinero," and "dinheiro" all descend from the same coin name, which makes them doublets of one another. The word was carried far from Rome, and each language reshaped it to suit its own sounds.