drachma

[ drak-muh, drahk- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural drach·mas, drach·mae [drak, -mee, drahk, -].

a cupronickel coin and monetary unit of modern Greece until the euro was adopted, equal to 100 lepta. : dr., drch.
the principal silver coin of ancient Greece.
a small unit of weight in ancient Greece, approximately equivalent to the U.S. and British apothecaries' dram.
any of various modern weights, especially a dram.

drachma

/ ˈdrækmə /

the former standard monetary unit of Greece, divided into 100 lepta; replaced by the euro in 2002
another name for dram
a silver coin of ancient Greece
a unit of weight in ancient Greece

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Origin of drachma¹

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

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Origin of drachma¹

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

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They reckon that the Greeks will use their votes to demand a return to the drachma and trigger a stampede on the banks.

But a new drachma is likely to lose at least half of its value compared with the euro.

“This is not just about the euro or the drachma,” Samaras told a Greek reporter last week.

And didn't I put down a solid drachma for you at the feet of Aphrodite's statue, when it was her feast the other day?

There, too, a Sicilian medimnus of barley is sold for a drachma, and one of wheat for nine Alexandrine obols.

An assarion is a small Roman copper coin worth one tenth of a drachma, or about an hour's wages for an agricultural laborer.

A drachma is a Greek silver coin worth about one Roman denarius, or about a day's wages for an agricultural laborer.

Half a silver shekel was a drachma, and this was therefore the true ancestor of our shilling.

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