rand

¹ American  

[rand] / rænd /

noun

1. (in shoemaking) a strip of leather set in a shoe at the heel before the lifts are attached.

2. British Dialect.

   1. a strip or long slice.

   2. a border or margin.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to provide (footwear) with rands.

rand ² American  

[rand] / rænd /

noun

1. a coin and monetary unit of the Republic of South Africa, equal to 100 cents. R.

---

Rand ³ American  

[rand] / rænd /

noun

1. Ayn 1905–82, U.S. novelist and essayist, born in Russia.

---

rand ¹ British  

/ rænd /

noun

1. shoemaking a leather strip put in the heel of a shoe before the lifts are put on

2. dialect

   1. a strip or margin; border

   2. a strip of cloth; selvage

---

Rand ² British  

/ rænd /

noun

1. short for Witwatersrand

---

rand ³ British  

/ rɒnt, rænd /

noun

1. the standard monetary unit of the Republic of South Africa, divided into 100 cents

---

Etymology

Origin of rand¹

before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, German rand border, margin

Origin of rand²

1960–65; from Afrikaans, after The Rand ( def. ) (Witwatersrand), a major gold mining area

Example Sentences

Total customers rose 5.6% to 307.2 million, while free cash flow rose 345.5% to 26.9 billion South African rand.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026

Shell, along with BP, sold the refinery they jointly owned to South Africa’s state-owned Central Energy Fund in 2024 for one South African rand, or about six U.S. cents.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

This would bring the total to 600m rand, way below the 4.6bn rand requested by researchers.

From BBC • Jul. 10, 2025

Mr Mphahlele told the BBC that the 30,000 rand pay-out, which he had received for the violations he endured during his 10 years in prison, was an insult.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2025

We sell him the shoes, and now we’ve gone and turned 60 rand into 200.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah