peso

P3E1S1O1
UK/ˈpeɪsəʊ/Philippines/ˈpɛso/

noun

A former unit of currency in Spain and Spain's colonies, worth 8 reales; the Spanish dollar.

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Similar
adarmeSpanish dollarUruguayan pesoPhilippine pesoMexican pesoGuinea-Bissau pesoDominican pesoCuban peso
CommonScrabble 6

Meanings

nounpeso (plural pesos)

plural pesos

  1. historicalA former unit of currency in Spain and Spain's colonies, worth 8 reales; the Spanish dollar.
  2. The circulating currency of various Spanish-speaking American countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Uruguay) and the Philippines.

    Template:quote song

    1 more example

    The value of the peso has plummeted 858% against the US dollar over the past five years as the central bank printed more of the currency to help the country’s spendthrift government avoid defaulting on its debts. […] To dollarize its economy, Argentina would need to exchange all pesos held by its people and businesses for US dollars, and assign a dollar value to all of its assets and contracts.

    2023 October 23, Anna Cooban, “Javier Milei wants Argentina to swap the peso for the US dollar. Here’s what that could mean”, in CNN Business

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe basic unit of money in Uruguay; equal to 100 centesimos

Similar
Uruguayan peso
Broader
Uruguayan monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in the Philippines; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Philippine peso
Broader
Philippine monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in Mexico; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Mexican peso
Broader
Mexican monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in Guinea-Bissau; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Guinea-Bissau peso
Broader
Guinea-Bissau monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in the Dominican Republic; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Dominican peso
Broader
Dominican monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in Cuba; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Cuban peso
Broader
Cuban monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in Colombia; equal to 100 centavos

Similar
Colombian peso
Broader
Colombian monetary unit

nounthe basic unit of money in Chile; equal to 100 centesimos

Similar
Chilean peso
Broader
Chilean monetary unit

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)pend-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*(s)péndeti
  3. Proto-Italic*pendō
  4. Latinpendō
  5. Latinpēnsum
  6. Vulgar Latin*pēsum
  7. Old Spanishpeso
  8. Spanishpeso
  9. Englishpeso

Borrowed from Spanish peso.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بِيزُو, بِيسُو
  • بِيزُو (bīzū)currency
  • بِيسُو (bīsū)currency
Bulgarian пе́со
  • пе́со (péso)currency
Catalan peso
  • pesocurrency
Chinese Mandarin 比索, 披索
  • 比索 (bǐsuǒ)currency
  • 披索 (pīsuǒ)currency
Czech peso
  • pesocurrency
Finnish peso
  • pesocurrency
French peso, péso
  • pesocurrency
  • pésocurrency
German Peso
  • Pesocurrency
Greek πέσο
  • πέσο (péso)currency
Hindi पेसो
  • पेसो (peso)currency
Japanese ペソ
  • ペソ (peso)currency
Korean 페소
  • 페소 (peso)currency
Latin pensum
  • pensumcurrency
Malay peso
  • pesocurrency
Māori peho
  • pehocurrency
Persian پزو
  • پزوcurrency
Polish peso
  • pesocurrency
Portuguese peso
  • pesocurrency
Romanian peso
  • pesocurrency
Russian пе́со
  • пе́со (péso)currency
Spanish peso
  • pesocurrency
Tagalog piso
  • pisocurrency
Thai เปโซ
  • เปโซ (bpee-soo)currency
Turkish peso
  • pesocurrency
Ukrainian песо
  • песо (peso)currency
Yiddish פּעסאָ
  • פּעסאָ (peso)currency

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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