Livres

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A former French currency unit, historically used before the decimal system
2. A term for various other historical currency units in different regions, often recognized in historical texts
3. A reference to a measure of weight equivalent to a pound, used in various contexts throughout history

Etymology: "Livres" is simply the plural of "livre," so the story belongs to the singular. The word goes back to Latin "libra," meaning a pound (of weight), the same root that gave us the zodiac sign Libra and the abbreviation "lb." Through Old and Middle French it became "livre," and English borrowed it from French. Its sense as a unit of money came from the weight: a pound of silver was once the basis of coinage, so a unit of account named for a pound's weight soon stood for a sum of money in its own right. The word is a doublet of "lira," "litre," "libra," and "rottol," meaning that these English and other-language words all trace back to the same Latin source but reached their forms by different routes. Lira, the former Italian currency, is the closest in meaning: it too passed from "libra" to Italian and then into everyday money talk, showing how one Roman unit of weight spread across European commerce.

Synonyms: pounds, currency, money, cash, funds