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Glite Dictionary
West African CFA franc

West African CFA franc

5.4
Money used in eight West African countries, for example Senegal and Mali
  • noun
translation icon : franco CFA de África Occidental
  • The West African CFA franc is pegged to the euro for stability.

Examples

  • Travelers should exchange their money for West African CFA francs before arriving in Mali.

  • Most transactions in Senegal are conducted in West African CFA francs.

  • The West African CFA franc is widely used.

  • I have some West African CFA francs.

  • Most transactions in Senegal are conducted in West African CFA francs.

  • Travelers should exchange their money for West African CFA francs before arriving in Mali.

  • The West African CFA franc is pegged to the euro for stability.

Synonyms

CFA franc
vsWest African CFA franc
7.0

Money that some African countries use and the French government backs

refers to the one currency officially adopted by eight specific West African states

Surface Forms

West African CFA franc singular
West African CFA francs plural

Morphology

West + African + CFA + franc

The meaning is directly compositional: 'West African' identifies the region and 'franc' names a currency, so a learner who knows those constituents can infer this is the franc used in West Africa. The initialism 'CFA' specifies the particular monetary arrangement but does not prevent a B1 learner from deriving that this is a currency for West African countries; such region+currency naming is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

West African CFA franc gets its name from when France used one money across many West African colonies: CFA are letters from French words for a shared African financial community and franc was the French coin. Because several countries used the same money and France backed it, the currency today is still used by eight states and is 'tied to the euro' to keep its value stable.