Linguistic issues concerning the euro
Several linguistic issues have arisen in relation to the spelling of the words euro and cent in the many languages of the member states of the European Union, as well as in relation to grammar and the formation of plurals.
In official documents, the name "euro" must be used for the nominative singular in all languages, though different alphabets are taken into account and plural forms and declensions are accepted. In documents other than EU legal texts, including national legislation, other spellings are accepted according to the various grammatical rules of the respective language.[1][2][3] For European Union legislation, the spelling of the words for the currency is prescribed for each language; in the English-language version of European Union legislation the forms "euro" and "cent" are used invariantly in the singular and plural, even though this departs from usual English practice for currencies.[4]
Summary
Euro conventions | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
€1 | Language | Euro sign usage | Euro | (Euro) Cent | Pronunciations (in IPA) | |||
Bulgarian | 6,28 € | евро evro | 10 евро 10 evro | евроцент evrocent цент cent | 10 евроцента 10 evrocenta 10 цента 10 centa | ˈɛv.ro ɛvˈro | ˈɛv.rotsɛnt | |
Catalan | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euros | cèntim | 10 cèntims | ˈɛw.ɾu ˈɛw.ɾo ˈew.ɾo | ˈsɛn.tim | |
Croatian | 6,28 € | euro | euri 10 eura x1, xx1 euro but x11, xx11 eura | cent eurocent | 10 centi x1 cent but x11 centi (x)2,(x)3,(x)4 centa but(x)12,(x)14 centi | ˈɛuro | ˈtsɛnt | |
Czech | 6,28 € | euro | 2, 3, 4 eura 5 eur | cent | 2, 3, 4, centy 5 centů | ˈɛu.ro | tsɛnt | |
Danish | euro | 10 euro | cent | 10 cent | ˈœʊ̯.ʁo ˈeʊ̯.ʁo | sɛnˀd̥ | ||
![]() | Dutch[5] | €6,28 | euro | 10 euro | cent | 10 cent | ˈøːroː ˈʏːroː | sɛnt |
![]() | English2 | €6.28 (IE, MT) | euro | 10 euros 10 euro (IE) | cent | 10 cents 10 cent (IE) | ˈjʊɹoʊz ˈjʊɹoʊ | sɛnts sɛnt |
![]() | Estonian | 6,28 € | euro | 10 eurot3 | sent | 10 senti3 | ||
![]() | Finnish | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euroa3 | sentti | 10 senttiä3 | ˈeuro ˈeu.ro.ɑ2 | ˈsentːi ˈsentːi.æ2 |
![]() | French | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euros | cent centime | 10 cents 10 centimes | øˈʁo | sɑ̃, sɛnt sɑ̃ˈtim |
Galician | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euros | céntimo | 10 céntimos | ˈew.ɾɔ(s) ˈew.ɾ[o ~ ʊ](s) | ˈθɛntimo(s) ˈsɛntimo(s) | |
![]() | German | 6,28 € (DE) €6,28 (AT) €6.28 (CH) €6.28 (FL) | Euro | 10 Euro | Cent | 10 Cent | ˈɔʏʁo[6] | tsɛnt sɛnt |
![]() | Greek | 6,28 € (GR) €6.28 (CY) | ευρώ evrō | 10 ευρώ 10 evrō | λεπτό (GR) leptó σεντ (CY) sent | 10 λεπτά 10 leptá 10 σεντ 10 sent | evˈro | lepˈto lepˈta sent |
Hungarian | 6,28 € | euró | 10 euró | cent | 10 cent | ˈɛuroː | ˈtsɛnt | |
Icelandic | 6,28 € | evra | 10 evrur | sent | 10 sent | ˈɛvra ˈɛvrʏr | sɛn̥t | |
![]() | Irish | €6.28 | euro | 10 euro | cent | 10 cent | jʊɹoʊ | sɛnt |
![]() | Italian | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euro | centesimo | 10 centesimi | ˈɛuro | tʃenˈtɛːzimo |
![]() | Latvian | 6,28 € | eiro | 10 eiro | cents | 1 cents 10 centi | ˈɛirɔː | tsents |
![]() | Lithuanian | 6,28 € | euras | 2 eurai 10 eurų 21 euras | centas | 2 centai 10 centų 21 centas | ˈɛʊrɐs | ˈt͡sʲɛntɐs |
![]() | Maltese | €6.28 | ewro | 10 ewro | ċenteżmu | 10 ċenteżmi 11 to 19-il ċenteżmu from 20 onwards ċenteżmu | ˈɛuro | tʃenˈtɛzmu |
Polish | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euro | cent | 2, 3, 4 centy 10 centów | ˈɛw.rɔ | tsɛnt ˈtsɛn.tɨ tsɛn.tuf | |
![]() | Portuguese | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euros | cêntimo/centavo | 10 cêntimos/centavos | ˈew.ɾɔ(ʃ) ˈew.ɾu(ʃ) | ˈsẽtɨmu(ʃ) ˈsẽtavu(ʃ) |
Romanian | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euro | cent, eurocent | 10 cenți, 10 eurocenți | ˈe.uro | t͡ʃent, ˌe.uroˈt͡ʃent t͡ʃent͡sʲ, ˌe.uroˈt͡ʃent͡sʲ | |
Scottish Gaelic | €6.28 | euro eòra | 10 euros 10 eòrathan | cent seant | 10 cents 10 seantaichean | |||
![]() | Slovak | 6,28 € | euro | 2, 3, 4 eurá 5 eur/eúr | cent | 2, 3, 4 centy 5 centov | ɛʊ.ɾɔ | tsɛnt |
![]() | Slovene | 6,28 € | evro | 1 evro 2 evra 3, 4 evri 5+ evrov | cent | 1 cent 2 centa 3, 4 centi 5+ centov | ˈeu̯.rɔ ˈeu̯.ra ˈeu̯.ri ˈeu̯.rɔu̯ | tsɛnt ˈtsɛn.ta ˈtsɛn.ti ˈtsɛn.tɔu̯ |
![]() | Spanish | 6,28 € | euro | 10 euros | céntimo | 10 céntimos | eu.ɾo(s) | ˈθent̪imo(s) |
![]() | Swedish2 | 6,28 € (FI) | euro | 10 euro | cent | 10 cent | ˈɛu.ɾo (FI) ˈɛv.ɾo, ˈɛu.ɾo (SE) | |
![]() | Turkish2 | €6.28 (CY) | avro | 10 avro | sent | 10 sent | ||
Welsh | €6.28 | ewro | ewros 10 ewro4 | sent | sentiau 10 sent4 | ˈɛurɔ ˈɛurɔs, ˈɛurɔz | sɛnt ˈsɛntjaɨ, ˈsɛntjai |
- 1 The language is an official language in a eurozone member state, meaning there are official spellings in EU documents.
- 2 English, Turkish and Swedish are marked by the euro sign because they are official languages of eurozone members (English being an official language in Ireland and Malta, Turkish in Cyprus, and Swedish in Finland), despite the fact that Turkish is not an official language of the European Union and that neither Sweden nor the United Kingdom use the euro.
- 3 Partitive singular. Most languages use a plural or immutable singular with numbers, but Estonian and Finnish use the partitive case.
- 4 Welsh follows numerals with the singular form of the noun.
Languages of part of the European Union
Asturian
In Asturian, there has been a controversy about the spelling of the word. The official academic dictionary uses the spelling euru,[7] respecting the Asturian tendency to write nouns with a final -u. However, considering that the international use is euro and that there is a tendency in Asturian to write some short forms with a final -o (like euro from Europa), other linguists, like Ramón d'Andrés, defend the spelling euro.[8]
Bulgarian
![](../I/m/EUR_10_obverse_(2014_issue).png)
Bulgarian uses Cyrillic. The current design of euro banknotes, except for the "new" €5, €10 and upcoming €20 banknotes, has the word euro written in Latin and Greek alphabets. The 2013 design of the € 5 banknote introduced Cyrillic, adopting the spelling ЕВРО, as described below. When Bulgaria will issue Euro coins, if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national (obverse) side.
In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as евро [ˈɛvro] and, less often, [ɛvˈro] (from Bulgarian Европа [ɛvˈropa], meaning Europe); the plural varies in spoken language – евро, евра [ɛvˈra], еврота [ˈɛvrota] – but the most widespread form is евро – without inflection in plural. The word for euro, though, has a normal form with the postpositive definite article – еврото (the euro).
The word for eurocent is евроцент [ˈɛvrotsɛnt] and most probably that, or only цент [ˈtsɛnt], will be used in future when the European currency is accepted in Bulgaria. In contrast to euro, the word for "cent" has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form: евроцент (basic form), евроцентът (full definite article – postpositive), евроцентове (plural), 2 евроцента (numerative form – after numerals). The word stotinki (стотинки), singular stotinka (стотинка), the name of the subunit of the current Bulgarian currency can be used in place of cent, as it has become a synonym of the word "coins" in colloquial Bulgarian; just like "cent" (from Latin centum), its etymology is from a word meaning hundred – "sto" (сто). Stotinki is used widely in the Bulgarian diaspora in Europe to refer to subunits of currencies other than the Bulgarian lev.
Initially, the ECB and the European Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the name it uses for the currency from ЕВРО to ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have an official and standard spelling across the EU. Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language.[9] The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.[10][11] As of 13 December 2007, all EU institutions – including the ECB – use ЕВРО as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency.
Of other national Slavic languages using the Cyrillic alphabet, Macedonian, Russian and Serbian also use the spelling евро. Ukrainian uses євро and Belarusian uses еўра/эўра.
Catalan
In Catalan the official plural is the same as its regular plural euros. In Eastern Catalan, the official pronunciation of "euro" is [ˈɛwɾu] ([ˈɛwɾo] in Majorcan), while in Western Catalan (which includes Valencian) is [ˈewɾo].[12]
For the cent, the word cèntim (pronounced: [ˈsɛntim], plural cèntims) is used, since historically this term has been used as the hundredth part of a currency unit. The fraction of the peseta was also called cèntim, but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago.
Cornish
In the Cornish language, euro is written ewro (like Ewrop 'Europe'), a masculine noun with its plural ewros.[13] For cent, cent is used, a masculine noun with the plural centys.
Croatian
In Croatian the euro and cent are called euro and cent (occasionally the word eurocent is used instead of cent to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts).
Plural forms are, like in many Slavic languages, somewhat complex. The general plural form of euro is euri, but the paucal or identically written (but not identically pronounced) genitive plural eura is used with all numbers, thus 27 eura. The numbers ending in 1 (e.g. 21 or 101) take the nominative singular, the exception being numbers ending in 11 (e.g. 11 or 111). The examples are: 21 euro, 101 euro, 11 eura, and 111 eura respectively.
The general plural form of cent is centi and it is used with most numbers. The numbers ending in 1, except for those ending in 11, take the nominative singular cent, while those ending in 2, 3 and 4 except 12, 13 or 14 take the paucal centa. The examples are: 1 cent, 4 centa, 7 centi, 10 centi, 11 centi, 12 centi, 22 centa, 27 centi, 31 cent, 101 cent, 102 centa, 111 centi.
Both euro and cent in Croatian are of masculine gender.
Pronunciation follows the rules of Croatian. Euro is pronounced [euro], while cent is pronounced [ˈtsɛnt].
Czech
In Czech, the words euro and cent are spelt the same as in English and pronounced per Czech phonology [ˈɛuro], [ˈtsɛnt]. Occasionally the word eurocent is used instead of cent to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts. The spelling differs from the Czech word for Europe (Evropa); however "euro-" has become a standard prefix for all things relating to the EU (Evropská unie).
The Czech declension uses different form of plural for various numerals: for 2, 3 and 4, it is plain nominative eura and centy, while for numbers above 5, genitive (a vestige of partitive) eur and centů is used.
For compound numerals, there are two variants: either genitive plural is used (21 eur, 22 eur) or the form is determined by the unit part of the numeral (21 euro, 22 eura). The partitive genitive is used only when the whole numeral phrase is in nominative or accusative phrases, otherwise the expected case is used: sedm eur (7 euros-genitive), but se sedmi eury (with seven-instrumental euro-instrumental). Moreover, these otherwise common declensions are often ignored and non-declined euro is used for every value (22 euro), even though this form is grammatically incorrect.
In Czech euro is of neuter gender and inflected as město, while cent is masculine and inflected as hrad.
Danish
The word euro is included in the 2002 version of Retskrivningsordbogen,[14] the authoritative source for the Danish language (according to Danish law). Two plurals are given, euro when referring to an amount, and euroer when referring to coins. Both cent and eurocent are mentioned; the plural and singular forms are identical.
Danish words of Greek origin containing the sequence eu are traditionally pronounced with [œʊ̯], e.g. Zeus, terapeut, eutanasi, Europa. However, in the word Europa, a newer pronunciation with [eʊ̯] has gained ground in recent years, but this has not influenced the way euro is commonly pronounced.
Dutch
Plural: In Dutch, most abstract units of measurement are not pluralised, including the former Dutch guilder (gulden in Dutch) and Belgian franc (called frank in Dutch), and now the euro. An amount such as €5 is pronounced 5 euro. This coincides with EU legislation stating that euro and cent should be used as both singular and plural. In Dutch, the words are however pluralised as euro's and centen when referring to individual coins.
The euro is divided into 100 cent, as was the guilder. The Belgian franc was divided into 100 centiemen. The word eurocent is sometimes used[15][16] to distinguish it from the cents of other currencies, such as the dollarcent,[17] but originally mainly to differentiate it from what used to be 0.01 guilder, also called "cent".
Pronunciation: The word euro is /ˈøːroː/ phonemically. This can be pronounced the same phonetically, but commonly also as [ˈʏːroː], [ˈʏːroʊ], and others depending on the dialect and speaker (see Dutch phonology).
Slang terms: In the Netherlands, slang terms that were previously applied to guilder coinage and banknotes are sometimes applied to euro currency. Examples in the Netherlands include stuiver for 5 cents, dubbeltje for 10 cents.[18] However, the word kwartje (quarter), previously used for a guilder coin worth ƒ0.25, did not survive the introduction of the euro, which lacks a coin worth €0.25. Another popular slang term is the plural form euri (/ˈøːri/) (or even the double plural euries (/ˈøːris/)), a deliberate hypercorrect form referring to the plural of Dutch words of Latin or Italian origin.[19]
In Belgium, some Flemings refer to the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins as koper, which is the Dutch word for copper, the metal these coins are made of (compare nickel). Another nickname is "ros" ("redhead") or "roskes" ("little redheads"), referring to the colour of the coins.
Syntax: In Dutch language print, the euro sign (€) is chiefly placed before the amount, from which it is often separated by a (thin) space.[5] This was also the case with the florin sign (ƒ).
English
Official practice for English-language EU legislation (not necessarily in national legislation[1]) is to use the words euro and cent as both singular and plural.[4] This practice originally arose out of legislation intended to ensure that the banknotes were uncluttered with a string of plurals. Because the s-less plurals had become "enshrined" in EU legislation, the Commission decided to retain those plurals in English in legislation even while allowing regular plurals in other languages.[20] The Directorate-General for Translation now recommends that the regular plurals, euros and cents, be used.[21] The European Commission Directorate-General for Translation's English Style Guide (a handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission) previously recommended the use of regular plurals for documents intended for the general public but now has no restriction on usage.
Prior to 2006, the inter-institutional style guide recommended use of euro and cent without the plural s, and the translation style guide recommended use of invariant plurals (without s) when amending or referring to original legislation but use of regular plurals in documents intended for the general public.[22]
There has been a limited development of the term "eurozoner", as a demonym for people in the eurozone. Although it began to appear at the turn of the 2000s, its usage is still rare.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
In Ireland
As the euro was being adopted in Ireland the Department of Finance decided to use the word euro as both the singular and plural forms of the currency.[30][31] This is in line with the general construction on plurals in Irish and has precedent in English (the yen, won, rand and baht), thus meaning the same word could be used in the two official languages of the state, Irish and English. Because Irish broadcasters took their cue from the Department, the "legislative plurals" tend to also be used on the news and in much Irish advertising. This has had the effect of reinforcing the s-less plurals. The print media also follows the popular usage of "euro" for both banknotes and amounts.[32][33][34]
The slang term quid, previously used for the Irish pound, has been used for the euro in Ireland since its adoption there.
In English speaking countries outside Europe
The term euro-cent is sometimes used in countries (such as Australia, Canada, and the United States) which also have "cent" as a currency subdivision, to distinguish them from their local coin. This usage, though unofficial, is mirrored on the coins themselves, which have the words EURO and CENT displayed on the common side.
Faroese
In Faroese (and Icelandic) the euro is called evra, a feminine noun derived from the Faroese name of Europe, Evropa; this makes Faroese (with Icelandic) one of only two European languages in which the word for the euro is feminine. The plural is formed regularly: evrur. The cents are often called sent which is a neuter word and has the same form in the nominative plural.
Finnish
The Finnish pronunciation for "euro" is [ˈeuro]. In Finnish, the form sentti [ˈsentːi] is used for the cent – the letter 'c' is generally not used in Finnish, and nativized Finnish words cannot end in consonant combinations like '-nt', therefore an extra vowel 'i' is added. euro and sentti are declined like many other existing words ending in -o and -i, and sentti displays consonant gradation (genitive euron, sentin). With numerals, the partitive singulars euroa and senttiä are used, e.g., 10 euroa. This is abbreviated 10 €, where the € symbol takes the role of the word euroa (never *€10 or *10€). The colon notation (€:a) must not be used with the partitive of euro when the number is in the nominative. In general, colon notation should be avoided and, for example, one should write euron or euroa instead of €:n or €:a.
Plurals (e.g., kymmenet eurot "tens of euros") exist, but they are not used with singular numbers (e.g., kymmenen euroa "ten euro").
Sentti is problematic in that its primary meaning in colloquial language is "centimeter". Thus, the officially recommended abbreviation of sentti is snt, although Finnish merchants generally use a decimal notation (for example 0,35 €).
Slang terms: In Helsinki slang, a common nickname for euro is ege. In Tampere slang Eero, a common male name, may be used for euro.
French
In French, the singular is un euro (masculine). The official plural is the same as the regular plural euros. The Académie française, which is regarded as an authority for the French language in France, stated this clearly,[35] following French legislation in this regard.[36]
In France, the word centime is far more common than cent and is recommended by the Académie française.[37] Centime used to be a hundredth of the French franc which is now called centime de franc. The word cent (plural cents, both pronounced [sɛnt] to avoid the confusion with cent (100) pronounced [sɑ̃]) is the official term to be used in the French-language version of community legislation.[4] Before its use in relation to the euro, the word "cent" (pronounced as in English, [sɛnt]) was best known to European Francophones as a hundredth of a dollar (U.S., Canadian, etc.)
French-speaking Belgians use cent more often than centime because centime coins for the Belgian franc (worth, on 1 January 1999 about three U.S. cents) rarely circulated (only a 50 centime coin was still being issued) and because of the influence of Dutch and English, which are more commonly used in Belgium than in France as a result of Belgium's language diversity.
German
Plural: In German, Euro and Cent are used as both singular and plural when following a numeral, as is the case with all units of measurement of masculine (e.g. Meter, Dollar) or neuter gender (e.g. Kilo[gramm], etc.). However, when talking about individual coins, the plurals Euros and Cents are used.[38][39]
The only other marked case is the genitive singular, which is (des) Euros or, alternatively, des Euro.
Pronunciation: The beginning of the word Euro is pronounced in German with the diphthong [ɔʏ], which sounds similar to the 'oi' in the English word "oil".[6]
The spelling of the word Cent is not well adapted to German spelling conventions because these strive to avoid ambiguous letter-sound correspondences. Initial letter C is often used in loanwords and corresponds to various pronunciations depending on the language of origin (e.g. [s] in Centime, [tʃ] in Cello, [ts] in Celsius and [k] in Café). Most of these words are therefore eventually spelt phonetically (e.g. Kaffee, Tschechien (Czech Republic), Zentimeter).
Latin words beginning with "ce" such as centum (hundred) traditionally represent [ts] in German, and German words derived from these have therefore long been spelt with a Z, which represents [ts] (as in Zentrum (centre), Zentimeter (centimetre), etc.). Equivalently, some German speakers pronounce the beginning of the word "Cent" [ts], but since they are familiar with the English pronunciation of the American unit cent, most people pronounce it [s].
As these are nouns, both Euro and Cent are capitalised in German.
Slang terms: In Austria and Germany, the euro has also been called Teuro, a play on the word teuer, meaning 'expensive'. The Deutsche Mark was worth half as much as the euro (a ratio of approximately 2:1) and some grocers and restaurants were accused of taking advantage of the smaller numbers to increase their actual prices with the changeover.
In youth and Internet culture the fake plural Euronen is sometimes used; this form's origin is unknown but it bears resemblance to Dublonen (Dubloons) and has a retro ring to it. Also, "Öre" is occasionally used, the name of the Swedish currency. Among some punks, the word "Oi", as in the punk rock subgenre of Oi!, is used.
In German Usenet culture, the name Fragezeichen (question mark) was occasionally used in reference to initial problems with display of the euro sign, which was often rendered as a question mark. The term was most often written using the mock currency code FRZ.[40] This technical trouble has diminished and so has the usage of this term.
Abbreviations: EUR. TEUR for thousand Euros and MEUR for a million Euros are often used in financial documents. Numbers are given with a comma as decimal separator.
Greek
In the Greek language the indeclinable word ευρώ ([evˈro]) is used as the currency's name. It was decided to use omega (ω) rather than omicron (ο) as the last letter of the word, partly because a noun ending with omicron would encourage mutability, and partly to stress the origin of the euro in the Greek word Ευρώπη (Eurōpē, Europe) which is also spelt with omega and it is actually written on the euro notes in Greek as ΕΥΡΩ. Also, the spelling ΕΥΡΟ (resulting in a plural ΕΥΡΑ) on the notes could have confused other Europeans, who might read it as a string of Latin letters: eypo. A plural form evra, as if from a regular declinable neuter noun in -o, is sometimes used in a jocular way.
For the cent, the terms used are λεπτό, plural λεπτά (leptó, plural leptá), a name used for small denominations of various ancient and modern Greek currencies, including the drachma (which the euro replaced). The word means 'minute' (literally "thin"), the same as the unit of measurement of time or of angle. The term ευρωλεπτό, plural ευρωλεπτά (evroleptó, plural evroleptá) is sometimes used when a speaker wants to be completely specific that he refers to money and not time.
Some colloquial names for currency are also in use for the euro. One and two euro coins are respectively called φράγκο (frago) and δίφραγκο (difrago) from the French franc. A 5 euro banknote is also colloquially called τάληρο (taliro) from the Germanic root thaler via the Italian talero. A 10 euro banknote is called δεκάρικο (dekariko), a 20 euro banknote is called εικοσάρικο (eikosariko) or εικοσάρι (eikosari), and a 50 euro banknote is called πενηντάρικο (penintariko), derivatives of the words for ten, twenty and fifty.
10 lepta of a drachma were called δεκάρα (dekara), but since lepta of the drachma were out of circulation long before the euro, this word is now considered too old-fashioned and only used in old expressions and thus it is not used for the 10 eurocent coin. Nevertheless, all Greeks understand the word to stand for 10 cents of any currency and thus use it for non-euro currencies like the dime of the US dollar. The same is true for the 5-cent coin which is not called πεντάρα (pentara) like its drachma equivalent. These words come from the words for five and ten respectively.
In Cyprus, however, the cent is officially called cent (σεντ) both in singular and plural. This is the name formerly used for 1⁄100 of the Cypriot pound chosen for its neutrality to both official languages of the Republic (Greek and Turkish).
Hungarian
In Hungarian the currency is named euró ([ˈɛuroː]) and cent ([ˈt͡sɛnt]) without plural forms (as in Hungarian no plural is used after numerals), the former written with an accented ó, as decided by the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since Hungarian words ending with either o or u have to be accented as ó and ú. See these international words as examples: fotó, videó, sztereó. The spelling is also in accordance with the word Európa ("Europe") in Hungarian. Hungarian language does not use plural after numerals, as numerals already express plural, however both euró and cent can take suffixes regarding to grammatical cases, just as:
- Accusative case: eurót
- Dative case: eurónak
- Instrumental case: euróval ("with euro")
- Causative case: euróért ("for euro")
- etc.
On introduction of the euro, Hungary—along with Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovenia—struggled for the euro to be written in its official documents according to its own usage and spelling, in contrast with Community law, which provides for a single name throughout the Union (in the nominative singular and taking account of different alphabets).[41][42]
The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2009, contains the following declaration from Hungary, Latvia and Malta:[43]
58. Declaration by the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Malta on the spelling of the name of the single currency in the Treaties
Without prejudice to the unified spelling of the name of the single currency of the European Union referred to in the Treaties as displayed on the banknotes and on the coins, Latvia, Hungary and Malta declare that the spelling of the name of the single currency, including its derivatives as applied throughout the Latvian, Hungarian and Maltese text of the Treaties, has no effect on the existing rules of the Latvian, Hungarian or Maltese languages.
Irish
In Irish, the words euro and cent are used without change in spelling or pronunciation, and immune to the regular rules of Irish mutation after numbers; as such, they are ungendered, and the plural euronna is thus rarely encountered.[44] The word ceint (plural ceinteanna) has been in the lexicon since at least 1959 and is attested in printed literature, but is very rarely encountered.
The masculine noun eoró [ˈɔɾˠoː] (plural eorónna [ˈɔɾˠoːn̪ˠa]) has been coined from the word Eoraip ('Europe').
Italian
In Italian the word euro is used, as both singular and plural. Its standard pronunciation is [ˈɛuro], although native northern Italians use [ˈeuro] instead. The plural form euri is uncommon, but not incorrect.[45]
The issue of whether the correct plural form would be euri or euro remained open for a long time, predating the actual introduction of the currency. The Accademia della Crusca assigned to Severina Parodi, lexicographer, and to Luca Serianni, language historian, the task to give a response. They deliberated in favour of euri in 1999 with the motivation that "euro is a masculine noun". But the issue was then re-examined many times. Finally, in 2001 the consensus of the Accademia coalesced in favour of invariability.[46] The rationale was based on the fact that abbreviated words originating from a longer word (for example auto from automobile (car) or moto from motocicletta (motorbike)) do not have a plural form, as well as the fact that the word euro is considered an abbreviation of the word Eurovaluta (European currency) . In 2002 an amendment to the financial act was proposed to adopt euri as the plural form for public official deeds, but was quickly rejected by the Parliament.[47]
The word cent (pronounced [tʃɛnt]) is in practical use always replaced by the word centesimo ([tʃenˈtɛːzimo]), which simply means "hundredth" (also see centime in French); its plural form is centesimi. Cent only appears on documents such as electricity and telephone bills; it is perceived by native speakers as an abbreviation of "centesimo" (and in fact often followed by a period) rather than as an autonomous proper name.
Latvian
![](../I/m/Advertising_on_a_Riga_tram_using_the_word_%E2%80%98eiro%E2%80%99_for_the_euro.jpg)
In Latvian the commonly used term is eiro (which somewhat resembles the West European euro, but has also taken its sound from Eiropa, the Latvian word for Europe).[48] However, in 2004 it was proposed by Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Sciences that standardized usage should be eira as eiro is undeclinable in Latvian. The commission argued that a potentially frequently used term needs to fit especially well in the structure of Latvian grammar. They suggested that eiro is especially inconvenient to use in dative and locative, which would necessitate addition of valūta ("currency") for clarification.[49]
However, this decision resulted in public outcry, which resulted in the commission amending its original ruling to state that usage of euro is inappropriate for Latvian, and that eiro is acceptable as a parallel form, but its use should be limited and it should be dropped over time. The reasoning was explained, that while they still insist on the use of eira, they acknowledge that a half of users of the language are not content with such a form. They explained that the use of euro (and cent without nominative ending) is ill-suited to the language because an eu diphthong does not exist in Latvian, and orthographic rules discourage spellings that don't reflect pronunciation.[50] Additionally, the eiro spelling is closer to Eiropa, the Latvian word for Europe.[51]
Leonese
In Leonese, a language spoken in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora, the word for "euro" is "euru", the plural being "euros".
Lithuanian
In Lithuanian the euro and cent are called euras ([ˈɛʊrɐs]) and centas ([ˈt͡sʲɛntɐs]) (in common language usually eurocentas, to distinguish from the cents of the former Lithuanian currency, litas), while plural forms are eurai and centai (eurocentai). The Lithuanian language routinely adapts foreign words by re-spelling them according to Lithuanian phonetic rules and adding standardised endings, resulting in words like kompiuteris or Tonis Bleiras.
Luxembourgish
In Luxembourgish the Euro is officially called Euro (pronounced oi-ro), both in singular and plural forms, although the correct plural according to linguistic rules would normally be Euroën (pronounced oi-ro-en).
The Cent is called Cent (pronounced tsennt), plural Cents. In popular parlance the term Zantimm (pronounced tsunn-tim) is also used, a word derived from the French Centime.
Maltese
In Maltese, the spelling is ewro, as announced in December 2005.[52] The currency name ewro is spelt with w (not with a u) as derived from the Maltese word Ewropa (Europe), also written with w. Furthermore, the vowels e and u are not written next to each other in Maltese, except when they are pronounced as two syllables, which is not the case here.[53] The plural of the word remains unchanged, as the singular. The cent is known as ċenteżmu, plural ċenteżmi, both abbreviated to ċ.
In Maltese, 'ewro' is written with a small letter e and is masculine[54] singular – as in "L-ewro huwa..." (The euro is...) and "Il-munita tal-ewro hija" (The euro coin is...).
Mirandese
Mirandese (a regional language spoken in the northeastern Portuguese region of Miranda do Douro) uses the prefix ou already present in words like European (Ouropeu). The singular form is ouro (/ˈow.ɾu/) and the plural form is ouros (/ˈow.ɾuʃ/). Ouro is also the Mirandese word for 'gold', as in Portuguese.[55]
Polish
In Polish, euro is both singular and plural, and pronounced [ˈɛwrɔ]. This noun belongs to a small group of nouns of foreign origin in Polish that, as an exception, remain non-declinable in any of the seven cases (other examples being zoo, Waterloo and few others). It is however likely for the word euro to follow the pattern of other foreign words like kino, studio and radio and eventually become fully declinable in a similar manner as a result of a full linguistic absorption of the word into Polish.[56] Cent is declinable, being eurocent or simply cent ([ɛurotsɛnt]) in singular nominative and eurocenty or centy ([ɛuroˈtsɛntɨ]) in plural nominative or eurocentów or centów ([ɛuroˈtsɛntuf]) in plural genitive.
Portuguese
In Portuguese, euro has a Portuguese word-ending and thus is used in the singular, with euros the plural form. Cent, which does not conform to Portuguese word-forming rules, is commonly converted to cêntimo (singular) and cêntimos (plural).
The term cêntimo might have been adopted to distinguish it from the fractional value of the Portuguese escudo, which was called centavo.
Pronunciation of euro in Portuguese is still not standardized: either [ˈewɾɔ] or [ˈewɾu]. The latter has the regular final unstressed -o pronunciation, as [u], and is more widespread in the north of the country, while the former is more common in the south. Euro, cêntimo and centavo are masculine nouns in Portuguese, and as such, "the cents" are translated as os cêntimos and "those euros" as aqueles euros.
In Brazil the pronunciation is [ˈewɾu] (generally [ˈeu̯ɾu] in Rio de Janeiro and further north, as in Portugal, and [ˈeʊ̯ɾʊ] in São Paulo and further south and west as well as the places where southern Brazilians settled) and fractional values are called centavos de euro[57] (cents of euro) to differentiate them from Brazilian real "centavos".
Romanian
In Romanian the euro and cent are called euro and cent [t͡ʃent] (plural cenți [t͡ʃent͡sʲ]). The official plural of euro is also euro, and this official form was readily adopted by speakers. The "eu" construct is not a diphthong, thus the pronunciation is [ˈe.uro].
When speaking in a familiar–vernacular setting, some speakers would make the informal plural "euroi" (not seen as academic, and not used officially; its stylistic value–connotation is less than "bucks" for US dollars or "quid" for GBP in English and much lower than the almost everyday use of "piasse" (piastre, with the cent called "sou") for CAD in Canadian French). The USD also has a nickname (the word "para"/"parai" of Turkish origin) with the same negative stylistic value. Not to be confused with general nicknames for money in general or unclear nicknames for foreign currencies (e.g."coco" – the specific currency is supposed to be inferred by the listener from previous info/conversation or from the country the speakers are in).
Scottish Gaelic
Due to the lack of a governing body, there is no consistent usage regarding the terms for euro and cent in Scottish Gaelic. The various approaches include:
- use of English spellings (including the English plural form and pronunciation), treating the nouns as indeclinable: an euro (genitive an euro; plural na euro(s)), an cent (genitive an cent, plural na cent(s))
- use of English spellings and pronunciation for euro but with Gaelic case marking (both masculine and feminine as the gender of the word has not been determined to date)
- as a masculine noun: an t-euro (genitive an euro, plural na h-euro(s))
- as a feminine noun: an euro (genitive na h-euro, plural na h-euro(s))
- fully gaelicized forms (based on the Gaelic word Eòrpa "Europe") such as: an t-eòra (genitive an eòra, plural na h-eòrathan), an seant (genitive an t-seant, plural na seantaichean)[58]
Slovak
In Slovak the euro and cent are called euro and cent, the plural forms for amounts between 2 and 4 are 2 eurá/centy, and the plural forms for larger amounts are 5 eur/centov. Euro is spelt with a u because it is derived from the word Európa (Europe). The c in cent represents /ts/.
Slang terms: common nicknames for euro in Slovak includes: euráče, evri, juráše, éčka (literally "e"-s or "letters ‘e’"). Cents are sometimes jokingly called šestáky (as a common term for coins with small value); meďáky or medenáky (literally "coppers" or "the copper ones") or haliere which is a reference to the small coins of the original Slovak currency.
Slovene
In Slovene the euro and cent are called evro and cent ([ˈeːwrɔ], [tsɛnt]), the dual form is 2 evra/centa ([ˈeːwra], [ˈtseːnta] or [ˈtsɛːnta]) and the plural forms are 3/4 evri/centi ([ˈeːwri], [ˈtseːnti] or [ˈtsɛːnti]), 5+ evrov/centov ([ˈeːwrɔw], [ˈtseːntɔw] or [ˈtsɛːntɔw]), the same declension case being used for all higher numerals up to 100, then beginning again (101 evro/cent, 102 evra/centa, 103 evri/centi, 104 evri/centi, 105 evrov/centov etc.). Evro is spelt with v according to standard Slovene orthography, and matches the word Evropa (Europe).
In laws and regulations, though, the word ‘evro’ is replaced with the word ‘euro’ in all grammatical cases in accordance with an agreement between Slovenia and the European Union. In normative Slovene language usage ‘evro’ spelling should only be used, except as noted.[59]
Spanish
In the Spanish language, the official plural is the same as its regular plural euros. For the cent, the word céntimo (plural céntimos) can be used. The fraction of the peseta was also called céntimo, but no céntimo coins had been issued since 1980, and had since been demonetised. The word "euro" is pronounced [ˈeuɾo] in Spanish, and "céntimo" [ˈθentimo].
Slang terms: the euro is often referred to as pavo, meaning turkey in English (the usual translation for buck in dubbed films).
Swedish
In Swedish writing, euro is spelt euro (and cent is spelt cent) both in singular and plural, or written EUR, or €. The € sign is common in Finland but rare in Sweden. The currency "the euro" is spelt "euron" following Swedish grammar rules.
In Sweden, the accepted pronunciations are [ˈɛv.ɾo] (more common and similar to how eu is pronounced in modern Swedish in neuro-) or [ˈɛu.ɾo] (similar to how "eu" is pronounced in modern Swedish in "Europa".[60] However, many Swedes choose to pronounce it in a more English way [ˈjʊːro] (no "s" in plural). This pronunciation is rejected by official authorities, such as the Swedish Language Council,[60] and not used in television news. In Sweden there are no widespread slang terms since the euro is a foreign currency.
In Finland, the euro is the official currency, and Swedish is an official language alongside Finnish. The same spelling as in Sweden is used (officially Swedish in Finland is spelt as in Sweden). The pronunciation, however, is [ˈɛuɾo], which has some similarities to Finnish pronunciation. The abbreviation is like 3,14 €, same as for Finnish. Among Swedish-speaking as well as Finnish-speaking people in Helsinki, a common slang term is "ege".
Welsh
In Welsh, euro and cent are called ewro [ˈɛurɔ] (masculine) and sent [sɛnt] (feminine). The plural forms are respectively ewros [ˈɛurɔs, ˈɛurɔz] and sentiau [ˈsɛntjaɨ, ˈsɛntjai], although in the Welsh language, numerals are always followed by the singular form of nouns, thus: pum ewro (€5), deg sent (€0.10). Informally, the more Anglicised [ˈɪuro] may be used, written either the Welsh way, iwro, or as in English, euro. The second of these it should be noted the native word euro [ˈɛɨrɔ, ˈɛirɔ] ("to gild") already exists. Note too that in Welsh the abbreviation c stands for ceiniog (penny).
Other languages
Albanian
In Albanian, the euro is referred to as "euro". This is the same for Albanian in Kosovo, Macedonia and rest of the Balkans. Some Kosovo Albanian speakers however, pronounce euro like Germans; 'oiro'/'oi', due to heavily migration. It is derived from the Albanian word for Europe, "Europa", "Europë" and also "Evropa"/"Evropë". All variants are official in Albanian, however Albania uses Euro, Europa or Europe whilst other Albanian dialects such as in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia often use Evrope or Evropa. However the currency euro is not ever pronounced as evro like their Slavic neighbours.
Note: depending on dialect, location, diaspora and ethnicity some Albanians vary their pronunciations based on standard Albanian, Italian, Greek, German or Slavic (such as those in Macedonia or Serbia).
Arabic
In Arabic, the euro is usually referred to as يورو [ˈjuːro, ˈjuːru], which is an adaptation of the English pronunciation of the currency's name. Another naming is اورو [ˈʔoːro], which is an approximation of the French pronunciation [øˈʁo]. In most cases this term is used both for the singular and the plural form, although the plurals يوروات /juːroˈwaːt/ and يوروهات /juːroˈhaːt/ are sometimes encountered. The name for Europe in Arabic is أوروبا /ʔo(ː)ˈrobba, -ˈroppa/. Because loanwords are not of Arabic origin, they are pronounced in accordance with the spoken varieties of Arabic phonology. For example, أوروبا is pronounced [ʔoˈɾobbɑ, -ˈɾoppɑ] by Egyptian Arabic speakers, while [ʔoːˈrobba, -ˈroppa] by Levantine Arabic speakers.
Attempts to artificially arabize the pronunciation according to the standardized Arabic phonology would be more conforming to Arabic transliterations such as Yūrū / ʾŪrū, ʾŪrubbā which would be theoretically pronounced /ˈjuːruː, ˈʔuːruː, ʔuːˈrubbaː/ for يورو, اورو, أوروبا, respectively. See also Arabic diglossia to understand why the pronunciation differs from region to region.
Armenian
The Armenian word for euro is Եվրո, pronounced [ɛvˈɹo] in exactly the same way as the Greek. It is derived from the Armenian word for Europe, Եվրոպա, which, however, is pronounced [ɛvɹoˈpa], as stress in Armenian usually falls on the final syllable. Cent in Armenian is pronounced [ˈtsʰɛnt] (ցենտ).
The plural of euro, in accordance with the formation of plurals in Armenian, is Եվրոներ [ɛvɹoˈnɛɹ]. The plural of cent, however, is ցենտի, pronounced [tsʰɛnˈti].
Azerbaijani
The Azerbaijani name for Europe is Avropa, similar to that of its sister language, Turkish, and the Azerbaijani word for euro, derived from that for Europe, is avro, identical to Turkish.
Chinese
In Chinese, the euro is known as 欧元 (simplified), 歐元 (traditional), ōuyuán (pinyin), from the Chinese word for Europe, 欧洲 / 歐洲, Ōuzhōu, and the word 元 yuán, meaning coin. This follows the same pattern as the word for the American dollar 美元, měiyuán. For cents, the word 欧分 / 歐分 ōufén, is used. However, in Hong Kong it is often referred to as 歐羅 (Jyutping: au¹lo⁴) to distinguish it from the Australian dollar (澳元, Jyutping: ou³jyun⁴), because in Cantonese 歐元 and 澳元 have similar pronunciations.
As the character 元 in 欧元, is a counter word in Chinese, there is no need to put a measure word before the word. An example is: 五十欧元 (financial Chinese: 伍拾欧元) wǔshí ōuyuán for fifty euros.
Esperanto
In Esperanto, the currency is called "eŭro",[61] similar to the Esperanto word for the continent "Eŭropo." The o ending in euro conveniently accords with the standard -o noun ending in Esperanto, but rather than sound out e and u separately, Esperanto speakers use the diphthong eŭ, which matches its etymology. Plurals are formed in accordance with Esperanto rules, eŭroj and cendoj. The words are also declined as any Esperanto noun (eŭro/eŭroj in the nominative, eŭron/eŭrojn in the accusative).
A cent is cendo, as is commonly used for subunits of all centimalized currency (cents, centimes, etc.). The alternatives are centimo from the French centime or a more technical centono, literally, "one-hundredth part". (Esperanto speakers are unlikely to call a cent cento, since cento means a group of 100, rather than a hundredth.)
Georgian
In Georgian, the euro is called ევრო (evro, pronounced [ˈɛvrɔ]), derived from the Georgian word for Europe, ევროპა [ˈɛvrɔpʼɑ]. Unlike in Greek and Armenian, the stress of the word evro falls on the first syllable, as is usual in Georgian. Cent is ცენტი [ˈtsʰɛntʼi], as nativized Georgian words cannot end in a consonant, so an extra vowel 'i' is added. The respective plurals of euro and cent are ევროები [ˈɛvrɔɛbi] and ცენტები [ˈtsʰɛntʼɛbi].
Hebrew
When euro coins and banknotes were introduced, the question of the spelling and pronunciation of the currency's name in Hebrew arose. The official name of the currency established by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and the Bank of Israel is אֵירוֹ [ˈeʁo],[62] derived from אֵירוֹפָּה [eˈʁopa] (Europe).
An unofficial spelling and pronunciation יוּרוֹ [ˈjuʁo], derived from the English pronunciation of the currency's name, is also used.
Although in Hebrew currency names are usually declined for singular and plural, both forms of the Euro name are used for the singular and plural alike.
Hindi
In Hindi, the euro is spelt as यूरो (Yūro), while cent is written as सेंट (seṇṭ). Both the words are not pluralised. Europe is known as यूरोप (Yūrop) in Hindi.
Icelandic
In Icelandic the euro is called evra, a feminine noun derived from the Icelandic name of Europe, Evrópa; this makes Icelandic (with Faroese) one of only two European languages in which the word for the euro is feminine. The plural is formed regularly: evrur. The cents are often called sent which is a neuter word and has the same form in the nominative plural. However, a more common usage is to write, say, 20 cents as 0,20 evrur.
Japanese
In Japanese the euro is called "yūro" (ユーロ) based on the English pronunciation, using the katakana syllabary employed for foreign words. However, the word for Europe in Japanese is "yōroppa" (ヨーロッパ), probably borrowed from the Portuguese Europa (ˈew.ɾɔpɐ) or from the Dutch "Europa", not English. The cent uses the same word employed for all currencies using cents. This is rendered "sento" (or セント in the katakana script) and it is also based on the English pronunciation. In Japanese, like other East Asian languages, no plurals are used for units so both "yūro" and "sento" are used as the singular and plural.
Korean
In Korean of South Korea, the Euro is called "yuro" (유로) and Cent is called "senteu" (센트). The word for Europe in Korean is "Yureop" (유럽). They are all based on the English pronunciation.
Latin
Living Latin enthusiasts use euro (indeclinable) or euro, -onis (pl. eurones); sometimes also eurum, -i (pl. eura), euronummus, -i (pl. euronummi)[63] or even euronus, -i (pl. euroni).[64]
Manx
The Manx word for "euro" is either oarey (plural: oaraghyn), based on Yn Oarpey ("Europe"), or euro, from English. Cent is either kent (plural: kentyn) or sent.
Norwegian
In Norwegian there could be a problem concerning the spelling, since euro is masculine and would normally take a plural -er ending in Bokmål and -ar in Nynorsk. But since words for foreign currencies (like dollar and yen) normally do not have the endings -er or -ar in Norwegian the Norwegian Language Council reached a decision in 1996 that the proper declension of the word euro should be
in Bokmål:
- en euro – euroen – euro – euroene
in Nynorsk:
- ein euro – euroen – euro – euroane
The declensions are respectively: The two first in Singular, and the two last in Plural, while the first of each category are indefinite, the last of each category are definite nouns. The word cent is an old loan word in Norwegian – and it is declined the same way:
in Bokmål:
- en cent – centen – cent – centene
in Nynorsk:
- ein cent – centen – cent – centane
The pronunciation of the two words in Norwegian are [ˈæʉɾu] and [ˈsɛnt].
Romansh
In Romansh, the words are euro[65] and cent;[65] these are regular masculine nouns forming their plurals with -s, as euros and cents, respectively.
Russian
Russia currently borders four eurozone members, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They supply much of the euro inflow in Russia in trade exchange and tourism. In Russian, just like in the Bulgarian language, euro is spelt евро ("jevro", pronounced [ˈjevrə]) both in the singular and the plural, while cent is цент [t͡sɛnt] (sg.) and центы [ˈt͡sɛntɨ] (pl.), though there are many colloquial semi-ironic forms such as евры 'jevry' or еврики 'jevriki' (there's no plural form for euro in Russian), копейки for cents and others. Just as in Italian, although евро could have been declined as a regular neuter noun, it was made indeclinable like many neutral loanwords ending in a vowel: бюро [bʲʊˈro] bureau, office, writing-desk, пальто [pɐlʲˈto] overcoat, кофе [ˈkofʲɪ] coffee, бордо [bɐrˈdo] Bordeaux wine, claret etc.; the same form is used in the singular and the plural. Cents are sometimes transliterated as цент 'tsent' – singular, центы 'tsenty' – plural. Numerative form is цент for 1 cent (as well as amounts that end in 1 except for the ones ending in 11 – e.g. 51 цент but 11 центов), центa, the genitive singular, for 2 to 4 cents (as well as any other amounts ending in 2, 3 or 4, except for the ones ending in 12, 13, 14 – e.g. 54 центa but 12 центoв) and центoв, genitive plural, for the rest – 88 центoв. Sometimes eвроцент (also romanized as 'jevrocent' or 'evrotsent') is used to distinguish euro-cents from the American cents. (If евро had been treated as a regular neuter noun instead of being indeclinable, it would have the forms *евра (regular plural or genitive singular) and *евр (genitive plural), but this treatment would have been unusual for a loanword.)
Serbian
In Serbian the euro and cent are called evro (Cyrillic: евро) [eʋro] and cent (Cyrillic: цент) [tsent]. Evro is spelt with a v because it is derived from the name Европа/Evropa (Europe).
Both evro and cent are masculine nouns. They are inflected according to regular rules of the language:
- When not accompanied by a number, plural quantities are in whatever grammatical case is appropriate to the context: the nominative plurals are evri (Cyrillic: еври) and centi (Cyrillic: центи).
- When accompanied by a number ending with the digit 1 (except the combination 11) the singular form is used: 21 evro (Cyrillic: 21 евро), 101 cent (Cyrillic: 101 цент).
- When accompanied by a "small number", i.e. one ending with the digit 2, 3 or 4 (except the combinations 12, 13, 14), the paucal form is used: 22 evra (Cyrillic: 22 евра), 102 centa (Cyrillic: 102 цента).
- When accompanied by a "large number", i.e. one ending with a digit outside the 1–4 range (or one ending with any of the combination 11, 12, 13, 14) the genitive plural is used: 111 evra (Cyrillic: 111 евра), 25 centi (Cyrillic: 25 центи) or rarely 25 centa (Cyrillic: 25 цента).
The genitive plural centi is produced in an old-fashioned way that is today mostly reserved for measurement units. The alternative centa follows the vastly more common pattern of other masculine nouns but is very rarely heard in practice.
Turkish
Turkey and Northern Cyprus continue to use the Turkish lira as their official currency, but the euro is popularly used, particularly by individuals wanting to convert their savings into a more stable currency. Euro has colloquially been pronounced in the English fashion since its inception.
In response to criticism of the widespread English pronunciation of euro, the Turkish Language Association officially introduced avro into Turkish ("av" being the first syllable of the Turkish word for Europe, Avrupa) in 1998. A concerted campaign by the Turkish Language Association has begun to blossom in recent years, with most sections of the Turkish media now using the new word. It has yet to enter widespread colloquial use, however.
Ukrainian
The euro is becoming relatively widespread in Ukraine although the country did not border the eurozone until 1 January 2009. In standard literary Ukrainian the name is євро (pronounced [ˈjɛu̯rɔ]). The same form is used in singular and plural cases. Cents are translated as цент ([ˈt͡sɛnt]) in the singular and центи ([t͡sɛntɪ]) in the plural. In the Ukrainian language there is some variation in cases. Numerative form is цент for 1 cent (as well as amounts that end in 1 except for the ones ending in 11 – e.g. 51 цент but 11 центів), центи for 2 to 4 cents (as well as any other amounts ending in 2, 3 or 4, except for the ones ending in 12, 13, 14 – e.g. 54 центи but 12 центів) and центів for the rest – 88 центів. Sometimes євроцент ([ˈjɛu̯rɔˌt͡sɛnt]) is used to distinguish eurocents from American cents.
Notes
- 1 2 European Commission. "The euro: The euro 'rules'". Retrieved 12 January 2009.
The name of the single currency must be the same in all the official languages of the EU, taking into account the different alphabets. This is to ensure consistency and to avoid confusion in the single market. In all EU legal texts, the nominative singular spelling must be 'euro' in all languages ('ευρώ' in Greek alphabet; 'евро' in Cyrillic alphabet). Plural forms and declensions are accepted as long as they do not change the 'eur-' root. In documents other than EU legal texts, including national legislation, other spellings are accepted according to the various grammatical rules used in each language.
- ↑ English Style Guide: A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission (PDF) (Fifth edition (revised) ed.). European Commission Directorate-General for Translation. May 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
20.8 The euro. Like ‘pound’, ‘dollar’ [etc.] the word ‘euro’ is written in lower case with no initial capital and, where appropriate, takes the plural ‘s’ (as does ‘cent’):This book costs ten euros and fifty cents. However, in documents and tables where monetary amounts figure largely, make maximum use of the € symbol (closed up to the figure) or the abbreviation EUR before the amount.
- ↑ European Central Bank (13 December 2005). "Opinion of the European Central Bank of 1 December 2005 on a proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro (CON/2005/51)" (PDF). Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
For reasons of legal certainty, the ECB recommends that the text of the proposed regulation incorporates in its normative part a provision confirming that ‘the spelling of the name of the euro shall be identical in the nominative singular case in all the official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets.
- 1 2 3 European Commission. "Spelling of the words "euro" and "cent" in official community languages as used in community legislative acts" (PDF). Retrieved 12 January 2009.
- 1 2 Euro: valutateken voor of achter het bedrag?, Nederlandse Taalunie, retrieved 21 December 2006.
- 1 2 Max Mangold, ed. (1995). Duden, Aussprachewörterbuch (Duden Pronunciation Dictionary) (in German) (6th ed.). Mannheim: Dudenverlag Bibliographisches Institut & F.A. Brockhaus AG. pp. 316, 53f. ISBN 3-411-04066-1.
- ↑ "Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, ''Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana''". Academiadelallingua.com. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ Ramón d'Andrés, "Euru, euro" Archived 26 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "letter to the editor". The Sofia Echo. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Bulgaria wins victory in "evro" battle". Reuters. 18 October 2007.
- ↑ Elena Koinova (19 October 2007). ""Evro" dispute over – Portuguese foreign minister". The Sofia Echo. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ Generalitat de Catalunya. "Consultes lingüístiques, pronunciació del mot euro". Retrieved 23 May 2010.
El mot euro es pronuncia diferent, segons la procedència de cada parlant: en català central i a Menorca i a les Pitiüses, la e d'aquest mot es pronuncia oberta i la vocal final es pronuncia u; a Mallorca, la e es pronuncia oberta i la o final es pronuncia tancada; en català occidental, tant en nord-occidental com en valencià, la e i la o es pronuncien tancades.
- ↑ Nicholas Williams, English-Cornish Dictionary Gerlyver Sawsnek-Kernowek, Second edition, 2006. Redruth: Agan Tavas. ISBN 1-901409-09-0; ISBN 978-1-901409-09-3. Westport: Evertype. ISBN 1-904808-06-9; ISBN 978-1-904808-06-0.
- ↑ "euro entry in Retskrivningsorbogen" (in Danish). Dansk Sprognævn. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
- ↑ "Mogen winkeliers betalingen afronden op 5 eurocent?". Postbus 51. het ministerie van Algemene Zaken. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ↑ "Afronding eurocent". Eurobankbiljetten en munten. De Nederlandsche Bank. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ↑ "Euro stijgt boven 85 dollarcent uit". de Volkskrant. Persgroep Nederland. 28 November 2000. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ↑ "For instance in the headline of this 2007 local newspaper". Deweekkrant.nl. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "euri / euro's - Genootschap Onze Taal". Onzetaal.nl. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ↑ Michael Everson. "Euro or eora? Cent or ceint? The new currency and Ireland" (PDF). First published in Irish in An Aimsir Óg 2001, vol 2. Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim. ISSN 1393-9351. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
- ↑ "21.9 ff". English Style Guide: A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission (PDF) (7th ed.). European Commission Directorate-General for Translation. August 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
- ↑ The old text is quoted here:
Phoebus Athanassiou (February 2006). "ECB Legal Working Paper Series No. 2: The Application of Multilingualism in the European Union Context" (PDF). European Central Bank. p. 27, footnote 111. Retrieved 13 January 2009.Translation style guide (20.7) "Guidelines on the use of the euro, issued via the Secretariat-General, state that the plurals of both 'euro' and 'cent' are to be written without 's' in English. Do this when amending or referring to legal texts that themselves observe this rule. However, in all other texts, especially documents intended for the general public, use the natural plurals 'euros' and 'cents'."
Interinstitutional style guide (7.3.1): "In English, the terms euro and cent are invariable (no plural 's'), notwithstanding the acknowledgement in a footnote that 'The spelling without an "s" may be seen as departing from usual English practice for currencies'." - ↑ "Wall Street Journal". Opinionjournal.com. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Irish Times". Irish Times. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Accountancy Age". Iwr.co.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "The Independent". The Independent. UK. 1 January 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "FInancial Times". FInancial Times. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Elections will determine how we fit into future EU map". Irish Examiner. 5 January 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Brighton focuses on eurozoners". Brighton Business. 20 December 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "An open letter to the Minister for Finance" (PDF). Michael Everson,. 22 March 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
- ↑ "Charlie McCreevy: Response to the Open Letter to the Minister,". Evertype.com. 17 April 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Another money scandal, another big payout". The Irish Times. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
- ↑ "Chasing the hot money of Costa Del tax dodgers". The Irish Independent. 15 May 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
- ↑ "Dump clean-up delayed to mid-2012". The Irish Examiner. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
- ↑ "Langue française-Questions de langue". Academie-francaise.fr. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie". Culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ Académie française. "Communiqués de presse". Retrieved 22 March 2009.
L’Académie française à l’unanimité, dans sa séance du jeudi 13 décembre 2001, rappelle que la centième partie de l’euro doit se dire et s’écrire centime.
- ↑ Babel, Ralph. "Euro und Euros, Cent und Cents, Pence und Pennies". Singular und Plural. Faql.de. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ↑ Schäfer, Alexander (5 January 2002). ""Euro ist ein glücklich gewähler Name" – Interview with Norbert Fries" (PDF). Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ↑ "FRZ als Synonym fuer EUR" (in German). NARCHIVE: Newsgroup Archive. 17 February 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014.
- ↑ European Central Bank (16 December 2005). "Opinion of the European Central Bank of 16 December 2005 at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Affairs on the provisions of the draft Companies Act concerning redenomination resulting from the introduction of the euro (CON/2005/57)" (PDF). European Communities. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
[. . .] Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro2 stipulates that ‘… the currency of the participating Member States shall be the euro’3. Recital 2 to this Regulation notes that, at its meeting in Madrid on 15 and 16 December 1995, the European Council considered that ‘… the name of the single currency must be the same in all the official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets’. Taken together, these two provisions make it clear that the name of the single currency is the ‘euro’ and that this name should be identical in all legal acts published in Community languages.
- ↑ European Central Bank (6 December 2006). "Opinion of the European Central Bank of 6 December 2006 at the request of the Hungarian Ministry of Finance on a draft law amending Law LVIII of 2001 on Magyar Nemzeti Bank and Law XI of 1987 on legislation (CON/2006/55)" (PDF). European Communities. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
[. . .] To make the euro’s singleness apparent, Community law6 requires a single spelling of the word ‘euro’ in the nominative singular case in all Community and national legislative provisions.
- ↑ "EUROPA – Treaty of Lisbon – Full text of the Treaty". Europa.eu. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Ag Caint faoin Euro (Speaking of the Euro)". Irish Language Blog. Transparent Language. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ↑ (Italian) Zanichelli dictionaries, Euro o euri?
- ↑ Gli euro e le lingue, issue 23 (October 2001) of La Crusca per voi (Italian)
- ↑ Amendment 62.5, 306th session of the Senate of the Italian Republic, 18 December 2002, (Italian)
- ↑ "Europe | Latvia grapples with EU over euro". BBC News. 3 January 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Valsts valoda - 2004 (9)". Vvk.lv. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- ↑ Ilze Sedliņa; Zaida Kalniņa; «Latvijas Vēstnesis». "Eira, eiro vai euro? | Apollo". Apollo.lv. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- ↑ "LZA Terminoloģijas komisija". Termini.lza.lv. 19 October 2004. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- ↑ "Maltese to call the European currency-‘ewro’", MaltaMedia News, 14 Dec 2005,
- ↑ "¥doc engl" (PDF). Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ http://www.maltabankers.org/file.aspx?f=174
- ↑ "Mirandese-Portuguese Dictionary – Amadeu Ferreira and José Pedro Cardona Ferreira" (PDF). Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ↑ "Odmiana euro (Declination of Euro)". PWN. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ↑ "Euros cunhados pelo Vaticano entram em circulação na Europa". O Globo. Retrieved 12 October 2010
- ↑ Klevenhaus, M. Lehrbuch der schottisch-gälischen Sprache (2009) Buske Verlag ISBN 978-3-87548-520-2
- ↑ http://www.ecb.int/ecb/legal/pdf/en_con_2006_29_f_sign.pdf
- 1 2 Swedish Language Council: "Veckans språkråd: Euro" Linked 2012-04-29
- ↑ eo:Eŭro
- ↑ The Academy of the Hebrew Language website
- ↑ Colloquia Iuliana – Opus Fundatum Niccolò Canussio
- ↑ "Statio Radiphonica Vaticana – Nuntii latini". Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- 1 2 Gion-Andri Cantieni. "Pledari Grond online". Pledarigrond.ch. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
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