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Glite Dictionary
Chilean peso

Chilean peso

3.2
Money used in Chile that is divided into 100 smaller units
  • noun
translation icon : peso chileno
  • The cost of the meal was 5,000 Chilean pesos, which is about $6 USD.

Examples

  • The Brazilian real and the Chilean peso have already suffered due to the Argentine drama.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Yesterday, I exchanged my dollars for Chilean pesos at the local bank.

  • During my trip, I learned that 100 Chilean pesos is worth just a few cents in US currency.

Surface Forms

Chilean peso singular
Chilean pesos plural

Morphology

Chilean + peso

The meaning 'the currency of Chile' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'Chilean' (pertaining to Chile) with 'peso' (a unit of currency). This country-adjective + currency-noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows regular composition rules, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Chilean peso comes from the Spanish word peso, which originally meant 'weight' and was used for heavy silver coins called 'pieces of eight'. Because those coins were called pesos, the name stayed and today Chilean peso means the 'money' or 'currency' of Chile.