currency
/ˈkʌɹ.ən.si/noun
currency is spelled C-U-R-R-E-N-C-Y: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, currency means “Money or other items used to facilitate transactions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of currency is currencies.
How many letters and syllables are in currency?
| Letters | 8: C-U-R-R-E-N-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 23 times per million words; the 3,814th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is currency?
Currency appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce currency?
- UK /ˈkʌɹ.ən.si/
- US /ˈkʌɹ.ən.si/
- US /ˈkɝ.ən.si/
Currency has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-currency.wav, En-us-currency.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of currency
- currencies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does currency mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Money or other items used to facilitate transactions.
Wampum was used as a currency by Amerindians.
- 2
Paper money.
- 3
The state of being current; general acceptance, recognition or use.
The jargon’s currency.
- 4
obsoleteCurrent value; general estimation; the rate at which anything is generally valued.
- 5
obsoleteFluency; readiness of utterance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate currency?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of currency: ccy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Currency in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | monnaie, devise, numéraire , billet de banque , courant |
| German | Währung |
| Portuguese | moeda |
| Spanish | moneda, divisa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does currency come from?
Borrowed from Medieval Latin currentia. By surface analysis, current + -cy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).