old currency
1
7.4
- noun
:
moneda antigua
- In some countries, the old currency can still be exchanged for new banknotes at certain banks.
Examples
-
After the switch to the euro, many people still had their old currency stored away as souvenirs.
-
Further, any of the "old" currency that remains outstanding must lose its status as legal tender.
Academic text (1991) -
Old currency became more valuable as toilet paper than as money.
Blog text (7) -
And by January 1999 (at the latest), a transnational European Central Bank (a Euro-Fed) will come into operation and the old currencies of Europe will formally cease to trade.
Academic text (1992) -
The museum has a section dedicated to the history of money, displaying old currency that is no longer in circulation.
Antonyms
How Old
- Specialized
1
4.7
- Archaic
1
9.9
- Specialized
1
7.4
2
5.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition where 'old' modifies 'currency', so a learner who knows both words will naturally interpret it as money that is no longer current or used. The pattern is compositional and common across languages, so the intended meaning ('a form of money no longer used as legal tender') is immediately predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Old currency comes from the idea that currency, the money people use, becomes old when it is taken out of daily use. Imagine coins and notes put in a drawer after a country changes its money; they used to be accepted in shops but now are not 'legal tender', so old currency means 'a form of money that is no longer used as legal tender'.