Etymology

paisa

P3A1I1S1A1

Today it means: A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Indian, Nepalese, or Pakistani rupee. Full definition →

Hindi पैसा ← Urdu پَیسَہ ← Sauraseni Prakrit *𑀧𑀬𑀁𑀲
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

paisa · noun1

  1. Sanskrit · derived from*पदांश
  2. Sauraseni Prakrit · derived from*𑀧𑀬𑀁𑀲
  3. Urdu · borrowed fromپَیسَہ
  4. Hindi · borrowed fromपैसा
  5. English todaypaisa

From Hindi पैसा (paisā) / Urdu پَیسَہ (paisa), from Sauraseni Prakrit *𑀧𑀬𑀁𑀲 (*payaṃsa), presumably from unattested Sanskrit *पदांश (*padāṃśa), from पद (pada, “quarter”) + अंश (aṃśa, “part, piece”) in reference its historical value of ¹⁄₄ anna.

paisa · noun2

  1. Spanish · borrowed frompaisa
  2. English todaypaisa

From Spanish paisa, a shortening of paisano.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.