Spanish peseta

1 6.6

Money that people used in Spain before the euro

noun

Archaic

: peseta

During my visit to Spain, I exchanged my dollars for Spanish pesetas to pay for souvenirs.

Examples

Before Spain adopted the euro, the currency in circulation was the Spanish peseta.
Before the euro, people in Spain used the Spanish peseta for all their daily transactions.
He still has some old Spanish peseta coins in his collection.
The Spanish peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.
The Spanish peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.
Do you still have any Spanish pesetas lying around?
The Spanish peseta was the basic unit of currency in Spain until 2002.

Synonyms

peseta

vsSpanish peseta

Archaic

7 8.9

Old Spanish money replaced by the euro in 2002

has identical meaning but uses the full name including the country marker

Surface Forms

Spanish peseta singular

Spanish pesetas plural

Morphology

Spanish + peseta

This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase: 'Spanish' specifies origin and 'peseta' names a currency, so together they denote the currency of Spain. The pattern (nationality + currency name) is cross-linguistically common and the meaning follows directly from the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.

Etymology

The name Spanish peseta comes from the word peseta, which once meant a 'little piece' used for small coins. So, the word became the name for Spain's old 'currency', the money used before the euro.