Meanings
nounnaira (plural nairas or naira)
plural nairas
- The official currency of Nigeria. Equal to 100 kobo. (The naira replaced the pound in 1973.)
‘Five naira for one small cup. The big one is ten naira.’
2019, Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities, Abacus (2019), page 371 more example
"We will not tolerate this. We gave them enough time to purchase helmets. Six months ago the price of helmets was below 800 naira so complaints about non-availability and high prices are no excuse," he told Reuters.
2009 January 7, Mike Oboh, “Nigerian bikers wear fruit shells to avoid helmet law”, in Reuters
Origin
A contraction of Nigeria, coined by Federal Commissioner for Finance Obafemi Awolowo.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic نَيْرَة, نَيْر
- نَيْرَة (nayra)the currency of Nigeria
- نَيْر (nayr)the currency of Nigeria
Chinese Mandarin 奈拉
- 奈拉 (nàilā)the currency of Nigeria
Finnish naira
- nairathe currency of Nigeria
Persian نایرا
- نایرا (nâyrâ)the currency of Nigeria
Portuguese naira
- nairathe currency of Nigeria
Spanish naira
- nairathe currency of Nigeria
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
naira. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naira
MLA
“naira.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naira. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “naira,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naira.
Source: naira on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.