drachma

[ drak-muh, drahk- ]

noun,plural drach·mas, drach·mae [drak-mee, drahk-]. /ˈdræk mi, ˈdrɑk-/.
  1. a cupronickel coin and monetary unit of modern Greece until the euro was adopted, equal to 100 lepta. Abbreviation: dr., drch.

  2. the principal silver coin of ancient Greece.

  1. a small unit of weight in ancient Greece, approximately equivalent to the U.S. and British apothecaries' dram.

  2. any of various modern weights, especially a dram.

Origin of drachma

1
1520–30; <Latin <Greek drachmḗ, probably equivalent to drach- base of drássesthai to grasp + -mē noun suffix (hence literally, handful)

Other words from drachma

  • drachmal, adjective

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How to use drachma in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for drachma

drachma

/ (ˈdrækmə) /


nounplural -mas or -mae (-miː)
  1. the former standard monetary unit of Greece, divided into 100 lepta; replaced by the euro in 2002

  2. US another name for dram (def. 2)

  1. a silver coin of ancient Greece

  2. a unit of weight in ancient Greece

Origin of drachma

1
C16: from Latin, from Greek drakhmē a handful, from drassesthai to seize

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012