Peso

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪsəʊ/

Definitions

1. A denomination of currency used in multiple Spanish and Latin American regions that signifies a specific value of money
2. A monetary unit operational in numerous nations, primarily in the Spanish-speaking world, reflecting economic value
3. A type of money used as legal tender in various Spanish-speaking nations

Etymology: The Spanish "peso" means "weight," and the coin took its name from the scales used to weigh precious metal. Its ancestor is Latin "pēnsum," the neuter past participle of "pendere," "to weigh" or "to hang," which is the same root that gives English "pendulum" and "pension." Over time the Latin word shifted from the act of weighing to the thing weighed, and in Vulgar Latin it became "pēsum," which Old Spanish turned into "peso." The coin's name tells its own story. When trade depended on bullion, a merchant's money was whatever metal he could weigh out, so "peso" came to mean a fixed weight of silver, and then the coin that carried that weight. English borrowed the word directly from Spanish, and it now names the currency of many countries across Latin America, the Philippines, and elsewhere.