drakhme

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A form of drachma — The currency of Greece in ancient times and again from 1832 until 2001, with the symbol ₯, since replaced by the euro.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

noundrakhme (plural drakhmai)

plural drakhmai

  1. alternativeAlternative form of drachma.

    For under his administration the measures were made larger than those of Pheidon; and the mina which previously had a weight of 70 drakhmai was advanced to the full 100. (The standard coin in early times was the 2-drakhme piece.)

    1990, G[reg] R. Stanton, Athenian Politics, c. 800–500 bc: A Sourcebook, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2005, →ISBN, page 61
    2 more examples

    It is a singular fact that payment for attending the assembly, by contrast with payment for jury-service, did rise during the fourth century: beginning at one sixth of a drakhme after the democratic restoration of 403, it was soon raised to half a drakhme, and by the 320’s it stood at one and a half drakhmai for each ‘principal’ meeting and one drakhme for each of the rest.

    1974, K[enneth] J[ames] Dover, Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle, Berkeley, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 35

    The building accounts of the Erekhtheion (409/8 and 408/7) show 1 drakhme a day as the usual wage irrespective of whether the workman was metic, slave or citizen, while in the Eleusinian accounts (329/8) unskilled labourers are recorded as receiving 1½ drakhmai a day and semi-skilled and skilled workers 2 or 2½ drakhmai.

    1988, R. K. Sinclair, Democracy and Participation in Athens, Cambridge, Cambs.: Cambridge University Press, published 1989, →ISBN, page 30

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekδρᾰχμή
  2. Englishdrakhme

From Ancient Greek δρᾰχμή (drăkhmḗ).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

drakhme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drakhme

MLA

“drakhme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drakhme. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drakhme,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drakhme.

Source: drakhme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.