Bulgarian from the new Europa series written in the
Latin (EURO) and
Greek (ΕΥΡΩ) alphabets, but also in the
Cyrillic (ЕВРО) alphabet, as a result of
Bulgaria joining the European Union in 2007
Bulgarian uses the
Cyrillic alphabet. While the 1st series of the
euro banknotes had the word
euro written in the
Latin and
Greek alphabets only. The
Europa series introduced the Cyrillic script, adopting the spelling
ЕВРО, following Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007. On the Euro coins minted by Bulgaria, as of 2026, the alternative spelling ЕВРО is also reflected on the national (
obverse) side. In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as and, less often, (from Bulgarian Европа , meaning
Europe); the plural varies in spoken language – or – but the most widespread form is евро – without inflection in plural. The word for euro, however, still has a normal form with the postpositive
definite article – (the euro). The word for eurocent is officially , , or (resp. for plural). In contrast to the word for "euro", that for "cent" has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form: (basic form), (full definite article – postpositive), (plural), 2 (numerative form – after numerals). Instead of the term cent, the word (), plural () can also be used,
as it is displayed on the national side of the Bulgarian euro coins. Since the 19th century, this name has referred to Bulgarian fractional currency units—small-value coins, typically the lowest denomination of the main currency unit, including in the most recent Bulgarian currency before the Euro, the lev. Just like "cent" (from Latin ), its
etymology is from a word meaning hundred – "sto" (сто). Initially, the
ECB and the
European Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the name it uses for the currency from
ЕВРО to
ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have an official and standard spelling across the EU. Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language. The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the
2007 EU Summit in
Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents. As of 13 December 2007, all EU institutions – including the
ECB – use
евро as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency. The Bulgarian spelling евро is derived from the name Европа/Evropa (Europe). Of the other Slavic languages using the Cyrillic alphabet,
Russian,
Serbian and
Macedonian also use the spelling евро.
Croatian In
Croatian the euro and cent are called and (occasionally the word is used instead of to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts). Plural forms are, like in many Slavic languages, somewhat complex. The general plural form of euro is , but the
paucal or identically written (but not identically pronounced) genitive plural is used with all numbers, thus . The numbers ending in 1 (e.g. 21 or 101) take the nominative singular, the exception being numbers ending in 11 (e.g. 11 or 111). The examples are: , , , and respectively. The general plural form of cent is and it is used with most numbers. The numbers ending in 1, except for those ending in 11, take the nominative singular , while those ending in 2, 3 and 4 except 12, 13 or 14 take the paucal . The examples are: , , , , , , , , , , , . Both and in Croatian are of
masculine gender. Pronunciation follows the rules of Croatian. is pronounced , while is pronounced .
Czech In
Czech, the words and are spelt the same as in English and pronounced per Czech phonology , . Occasionally the word
eurocent is used instead of to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts. The spelling differs from the Czech word for Europe (
Evropa); however "euro-" has become a standard prefix for all things relating to the EU (
Evropská unie). The
Czech declension uses different form of
plural for various numerals: for 2, 3 and 4, it is plain
nominative and , while for numbers above 5,
genitive (a vestige of
partitive)
eur and
centů is used. For compound numerals, there are two variants: either genitive plural is used (, ) or the form is determined by the unit part of the numeral (, ). The partitive genitive is used only when the whole numeral phrase is in nominative or accusative phrases, otherwise the expected case is used: (7 euros-genitive), but (with seven-instrumental euro-instrumental). Moreover, these otherwise common declensions are often ignored and non-declined is used for every value (), even though this form is
proscribed. In Czech is of
neuter gender and inflected like
město, while is masculine and inflected like
hrad.
Danish The word is included in the 2002 version of
Retskrivningsordbogen, the authoritative source for the
Danish language (according to Danish law). Two plurals are given,
euro when referring to an amount, and
euroer when referring to coins. Both
cent and
eurocent are mentioned; the plural and singular forms are identical. Danish words of Greek origin containing the sequence
eu are traditionally pronounced with [œʊ̯], e.g. . However, some words, such as , and , are also pronounced with [eʊ̯].
Dutch Plural: In
Dutch, most abstract
units of measurement are not pluralised, including the former
Dutch guilder (
gulden in Dutch) and
Belgian franc (called
frank in Dutch), and now the euro. An amount such as €5 is pronounced
vijf euro. This coincides with EU legislation stating that
euro and
cent should be used as both singular and plural. In Dutch, the words are however pluralised as ''euro's
and centen'' when referring to individual coins. The euro is divided into 100
cent, as was the guilder. The Belgian franc was divided into 100
centiemen. The word
eurocent is sometimes used to distinguish it from the cents of other currencies, such as the
dollarcent, but originally mainly to differentiate it from what used to be 0.01 guilder, also called "cent".
Pronunciation: The word
euro is phonemically. This can be pronounced the same phonetically, but commonly also as , , and others depending on the dialect and speaker (see
Dutch phonology).
Slang terms: In the Netherlands, slang terms that were previously applied to guilder coinage and banknotes are sometimes applied to euro currency. Examples in the Netherlands include
stuiver for 5 cents,
dubbeltje for 10 cents. However, the word
kwartje (quarter), previously used for a guilder coin worth ƒ0.25, did not survive the introduction of the euro, which lacks a coin worth €0.25. Another popular slang term is the plural form () (or even the
double plural euries ()), a deliberate
hypercorrect form referring to the plural of Dutch words of Latin or Italian origin. In Belgium, some
Flemings refer to the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins as
koper, which is the Dutch word for copper, the metal these coins are made of (compare
nickel). Another nickname is "ros" (
"redhead") or "roskes" ("little redheads"), referring to the colour of the coins.
Syntax: In Dutch language print, the
euro sign (€) is chiefly placed before the amount, from which it is often separated by a (thin) space. This was also the case with the
florin sign (ƒ).
English In the English-language version of European Union legislation, the unit
euro, without an
s, is used for both singular and plural. However, the plural
euros is also in everyday use. Many style guides such as those from the
Associated Press and
The Economist specify the plural
euros, and major dictionaries describe it as the most common form. Official practice for
English-language EU legislation (not necessarily in national legislation The
Directorate-General for Translation's English Style Guide (a handbook for authors and translators working for the European Commission) previously recommended the use of regular plurals where appropriate, but as of May 2019, states that no
s should be used. Prior to 2006, the inter-institutional style guide recommended use of
euro and
cent without the plural
s, and the translation style guide recommended use of invariant plurals (without
s) when amending or referring to original legislation but use of regular plurals in documents intended for the general public. In the
United Kingdom, despite
not using the euro as its currency, the terms "euros" and "cents" are more common than the plurals without the "s". The use of "s" for euros and cents is also recommended by the
Oxford English Dictionary.
In Ireland As the euro was being adopted in Ireland, the
Department of Finance decided to use the word
euro as both the singular and plural forms of the currency. Some media outlets, including the national broadcaster RTÉ, followed suit. However,
euros is also acceptable. The print media still frequently uses "euro" for plural amounts, although use of "euros" is also common.
Slang terms: As in the Netherlands, slang terms that were previously applied to
punts have been carried over to the euro currency. For example,
quid (same in singular and plural), which once referred to an Irish pound (and in the UK still refers to a
British pound) is used as a synonym for
euro. Also,
fiver and
tenner, which once referred to five and ten pounds respectively, now refer to five and ten euro either in the sense of the specific
€5 and
€10 banknotes, or in the broader sense of an equivalent sum of money.
In English-speaking countries outside Europe The term
euro-cent is sometimes used in countries (such as Australia, Canada, and the United States) which also have "cent" as a currency subdivision, to distinguish them from their local coin. This usage, though unofficial, is mirrored on the coins themselves, which have the words
EURO and
CENT displayed on the common side.
Estonian Finnish The
Finnish pronunciation for "euro" is . In Finnish, the form is used for the cent – the letter 'c' is generally not used in Finnish, and nativized Finnish words cannot end in consonant combinations like '-nt', therefore an extra vowel
is added. and are declined like many other existing words ending in and , and displays consonant gradation (genitive , ). With numerals, the partitive singulars and are used, e.g., . This is abbreviated 10 €
, where the €
symbol takes the role of the word (never *€10
or *10€
). The colon notation (€:a
) must not be used with the partitive of when the number is in the nominative. In general, colon notation should be avoided and, for example, one should write or instead of €:n
or €:a''. Plurals (e.g., "tens of euros") exist, but they are not used with singular numbers (e.g., "ten euro"). is problematic in that its primary meaning in colloquial language is "centimeter". Thus, the officially recommended abbreviation of is , although Finnish merchants generally use a decimal notation (for example
0,35 €).
Slang terms: In
Helsinki slang, a common nickname for euro is . In
Tampere slang , a common male name, may be used for euro.
French In French, the singular is (masculine). The official plural is the same as the regular plural . The , which is regarded as an authority for the French language in France, stated this clearly, following French legislation in this regard. In France, the word is far more common than and is recommended by the . used to be a hundredth of the
French franc which is now called . The word (plural , both pronounced to avoid the confusion with (100) pronounced ) is the official term to be used in the French-language version of community legislation. The only other marked case is the genitive singular, which is or, alternatively, .
Pronunciation: The beginning of the word is pronounced in German with the diphthong , which sounds similar to , the 'oi' in the English word "oil". This was because the
German Mark converted to the Euro at a rate of 1.95583:1, and some grocers and restaurants were accused of taking advantage of the transition by raising their prices—an item that might have cost DM 0.89 (€ 0.46) on the 29th of December 2001, would cost € 0.49 on the following 2nd of January. In youth and Internet culture the fake plural is sometimes used; this form's origin is unknown but it bears resemblance to
Dublonen (
doubloons) and has a
retro ring to it. Also, "" is occasionally used, the name of the
Swedish currency. Unlike the previous currencies (Mark and Schilling) which had well established nicknames for individual coins and notes, there are few widely used nicknames for Euros, but the two Euro coin is sometimes called like the old two Mark piece. In German
Usenet culture, the name (question mark) was occasionally used in reference to initial problems with display of the
euro sign, which was often rendered as a question mark. The term was most often written using the mock currency code FRZ. This technical trouble has diminished and so has the usage of this term.
Abbreviations: EUR. TEUR for thousand Euros and MEUR for a million Euros are often used in financial documents. Numbers are given with a comma as decimal separator.
Greek In the
Greek language the indeclinable word () is used as the currency's name. It was decided to use
omega (ω) rather than
omicron (ο) as the last letter of the word, partly because a noun ending with omicron would encourage mutability, and partly to stress the origin of the euro in the Greek word (
Eurōpē, Europe) which is also spelt with omega and it is actually written on the euro notes in Greek as . Also, the spelling (resulting in a plural ) on the notes could have confused other Europeans, who might read it as a string of
Latin letters:
eypo. A plural form
evra, as if from a regular declinable neuter noun in
-o, is sometimes used in a jocular way. For the cent, the terms used in Greece are , plural (
leptó, plural
leptá), a name used for small denominations of various ancient and modern Greek currencies, including the
drachma (which the euro replaced). The word means '
minute' (literally "thin"), the same as the unit of measurement of time or of angle. The term , plural (
evroleptó, plural
evroleptá) is sometimes used when a speaker wants to be completely specific that they are referring to money and not time. Some colloquial names for currency are also in use for the euro, carried over from the drachma. One and two euro coins are respectively called (
frango) and (
difrango) from the French
franc. A 5 euro banknote is also colloquially called (
taliro) from the Germanic root
thaler via the Italian
talero. A 10 euro banknote is called (
dekariko), a 20 euro banknote is called (
eikosariko) or (
eikosari), and a 50 euro banknote is called (
penintariko), derivatives of the words for ten, twenty and fifty. 10 lepta of a drachma were called (
dekara), but since lepta of the drachma were out of circulation long before the euro, this word is now considered too old-fashioned and only used in old expressions and thus it is not used for the 10 eurocent coin. Nevertheless, all Greeks understand the word to stand for 10 cents of any currency and thus use it for non-euro currencies like the dime of the US dollar. The same is true for the 5-cent coin which is not called (
pentara) like its drachma equivalent. These words come from the words for five and ten respectively. In Cyprus, however, the cent is officially called (
sent) both in singular and plural. This is the name formerly used for of the
Cypriot pound chosen for its neutrality to both official languages of the Republic (
Greek and
Turkish).
Hungarian In
Hungarian the currency is named
euró () and () without plural forms (as in Hungarian no plural is used after numerals), the former written with an accented
ó, as decided by the
Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The spelling is also in accordance with the word
Európa ("Europe") in Hungarian. Hungarian language does not use plural after numerals, as numerals already express plural; however, both
euró and can take suffixes regarding to
grammatical cases, just as: • Accusative case:
eurót • Dative case:
eurónak • Instrumental case:
euróval ("with euro") • Causative case:
euróért ("for euro") • etc. On introduction of the euro, Hungary—along with Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovenia—struggled for the euro to be written in its official documents according to its own usage and spelling, in contrast with Community law, which provides for a single name throughout the Union (in the nominative singular and taking account of different alphabets). The
Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2009, contains the following declaration from Hungary, Latvia and Malta: 58. Declaration by the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Malta on the spelling of the name of the single currency in the Treaties Without prejudice to the unified spelling of the name of the single currency of the European Union referred to in the Treaties as displayed on the banknotes and on the coins, Latvia, Hungary and Malta declare that the spelling of the name of the single currency, including its derivatives as applied throughout the Latvian, Hungarian and Maltese text of the Treaties, has no effect on the existing rules of the Latvian, Hungarian or Maltese languages.
Irish In
Irish, the words and are used without change in
spelling or
pronunciation, and immune to the regular rules of Irish
mutation after numbers; as such, they are
ungendered, and the plural
euronna is thus rarely encountered. The word
ceint (plural
ceinteanna ) has been in the lexicon since at least 1959 and is attested in printed literature, but is very rarely encountered. Linguist
Michael Everson in a 2001 paper proposed a new masculine noun
eoró (plural
eorónna ), or alternatively
eora (plural
eoraí), derived from
Eoraip ('Europe'), as being a more grammatically acceptable Irish term. However, it was not widely adopted and is not in common use. Irish also practices
lenition after the numerals 2–6 (5
cheint) and
eclipsis after numerals 7–10 (9
gceint, 8
n-eoró). However, as
ceint is irregularly pronounced (no other Irish word has a
soft c), lenition and eclipsis are usually not applied.
Italian In
Italian the word is used, as both singular and plural. Its standard pronunciation is , although in several
northern accents it is pronounced as instead. The plural form is uncommon, but not considered incorrect. The issue of whether the correct plural form would be or remained open for a long time, predating the actual introduction of the currency. The
Accademia della Crusca assigned to Severina Parodi, lexicographer, and to
Luca Serianni, language historian, the task to give a response. They deliberated in favour of in 1999 with the motivation that "euro is a masculine noun". But the issue was then re-examined many times. Finally, in 2001 the consensus of the Accademia coalesced in favour of invariability. The rationale was based on the fact that abbreviated words originating from a longer word (for example
auto from
automobile (car) or
moto from
motocicletta (motorbike)) do not have a plural form, as well as the fact that the word is considered an abbreviation of the word
Eurovaluta (European currency). In 2002 an amendment to the
financial act was proposed to adopt as the plural form for public official deeds, but was quickly rejected by the Parliament. The word (pronounced ) is in practical use always replaced by the word
centesimo (), which simply means "hundredth" (also see in French); its plural form is
centesimi.
Cent only appears on documents such as electricity and telephone bills; it is perceived by native speakers as an abbreviation of "centesimo" (and in fact often followed by a period) rather than as an autonomous proper name. It should also be added that the word "cent", or "centesimo", is often omitted altogether in current usage, when it follows an amount expressed in higher values: a sum of € 1,50 is commonly referred to as "one euro fifty" ("un euro e cinquanta"), with no reference to the cent partition.
Latvian In
Latvian the commonly used term is
eiro (which somewhat resembles the West European
euro, but has also taken its sound from
Eiropa, the Latvian word for
Europe). In 2004 it was proposed by Terminology Commission of the
Latvian Academy of Sciences that standardized usage should be
eira as
eiro is
undeclinable in Latvian. The commission argued that a potentially frequently used term needs to fit especially well in the structure of
Latvian grammar. They suggested that
eiro is especially inconvenient to use in
dative and
locative, which would necessitate addition of
valūta ("currency") for clarification. However, this decision resulted in public outcry, which resulted in the commission amending its original ruling to state that usage of
euro is inappropriate for Latvian, and that
eiro is acceptable as a parallel form, but its use should be limited and it should be dropped over time. The reasoning was explained, that while they still insist on the use of
eira, they acknowledge that half of the users of the language are not content with such a form. They explained that the use of
euro (and
cent without
nominative ending) is ill-suited to the language because an
eu diphthong does not exist in Latvian, and orthographic rules discourage spellings that do not reflect pronunciation.
Lithuanian In
Lithuanian the euro and cent are called
euras () and
centas () (in common language sometimes
euro centas, to distinguish from the cents of the former Lithuanian currency,
litas), while plural forms are
eurai and
centai (
eurocentai). The Lithuanian language routinely adapts foreign words by re-spelling them according to Lithuanian phonetic rules and adding standardised endings, resulting in words like
kompiuteris.
Maltese In
Maltese, the spelling is
ewro, as announced in December 2005. The currency name
ewro is spelt with
w (not with a
u) as derived from the Maltese word
Ewropa (Europe), also written with
w. Furthermore, the vowels
e and
u are not written next to each other in Maltese, except when they are pronounced as two syllables, which is not the case here. The plural of the word remains unchanged, as the singular. The cent is known as
ċenteżmu, plural
ċenteżmi, both abbreviated to
ċ. In Maltese,
ewro is written with a small letter
e and is masculine singular – as in
"L-ewro huwa..." (The euro is...) and
"Il-munita tal-ewro hija" (The euro coin is...).
Polish In
Polish,
euro is both singular and plural, and pronounced . This noun belongs to a small group of nouns of foreign origin in Polish that, as an exception, remain non-declinable in any of the seven cases (other examples being
zoo,
Waterloo and few others). It is however likely for the word
euro to follow the pattern of other foreign words like
kino,
studio and
radio and eventually become fully declinable in a similar manner as a result of a full linguistic absorption of the word into Polish.
Cent is declinable, being
eurocent or simply
cent () in singular nominative and
eurocenty or
centy () in plural nominative or
eurocentów or
centów () in plural genitive.
Portuguese In
Portuguese,
euro has a Portuguese word-ending and thus is used in the singular, with
euros the plural form.
Cent, which does not conform to Portuguese word-forming rules, is commonly converted to
cêntimo (singular) and
cêntimos (plural). The term
cêntimo might have been adopted to distinguish it from the fractional value of the
Portuguese escudo, which was called
centavo. Pronunciation of
euro in Portuguese is still not standardized: either or . The latter has the regular final unstressed -
o pronunciation, as , and is more widespread in the north of the country, while the former is more common in the south.
Euro,
cêntimo and
centavo are masculine nouns in Portuguese, and as such, "the cents" are translated as
os cêntimos and "those euros" as
aqueles euros. In Brazil the pronunciation is (generally in Rio de Janeiro and further north, as in Portugal, and in São Paulo and further south and west as well as the places
where southern Brazilians settled) and fractional values are called
centavos de euro (cents of euro) to differentiate them from
Brazilian real "centavos". Units up to 1000 are colloquially designated as
paus: 50 euros is designated as 50
paus. This name carried over from the escudo.
Romanian In
Romanian the euro and cent are called
euro and (plural ''
). The official plural of euro
is also euro'', and this official form was readily adopted by speakers. The "eu" construct is not a diphthong, thus the pronunciation is . When speaking in a familiar–vernacular setting, some speakers would make the informal plural "euroi", which is unofficial and more colloquial.
Slovak In
Slovak the euro and cent are called
euro and , the plural forms for amounts between 2 and 4 are
2 eurá/centy, and the plural forms for larger amounts are
5 eur/centov.
Euro is spelt with a
u because it is derived from the word
Európa (Europe). The c in cent represents .
Slang terms: common nicknames for euro in Slovak includes:
euráče,
evri,
juráše,
éčka (literally "e"-s or "letters ‘e’"). Cents are sometimes jokingly called
šestáky (as a common term for coins with small value);
meďáky or
medenáky (literally "coppers" or "the copper ones") or
haliere which is a reference to the small coins of the original Slovak currency.
Slovene In
Slovene the euro and cent are called
evro and (, ), the dual form is
2 evra/centa (, or ) and the plural forms are
3/4 evri/centi (, or ),
5+ evrov/centov (, or ), the same declension case being used for all higher numerals up to 100, then beginning again (
101 evro/cent,
102 evra/centa,
103 evri/centi,
104 evri/centi,
105 evrov/centov etc.).
Evro is spelt with
v according to standard
Slovene orthography, and matches the word
Evropa (Europe). In laws and regulations, though, the word ‘evro’ is replaced with the word ‘euro’ in all grammatical cases in accordance with an agreement between Slovenia and the
European Union. In normative
Slovene language usage ‘evro’ spelling should only be used, except as noted.
Spanish In the Spanish language, the official plural is the same as its regular plural . For the cent, the word
céntimo (plural
céntimos) can be used. The fraction of the
peseta was also called
céntimo, but no céntimo coins had been issued since 1980, and had since been demonetised. The word "euro" is pronounced in Spanish, and "céntimo" in Spain or in
Latin America.
Slang terms: the euro is often referred to as
pavo, meaning
turkey in English (the usual translation for
buck in dubbed films).
Swedish In
Swedish writing, euro is spelt
euro (and cent is spelt ) both in singular and plural, or written EUR, or €. The € sign is common in Finland but rare in Sweden. The currency "the euro" is spelt following Swedish grammar rules. There are many Swedish laws mentioning amounts in euro, because of EU directives, using
euro for the amounts and expression like "belopp i euro" (amount in euro), not the € sign. In Sweden, the accepted pronunciations are (more common and similar to how
eu is pronounced in modern Swedish in
neuro-) or (similar to how
eu is pronounced in modern Swedish in
Europa). However, many Swedes choose to pronounce it in a more English way (no
s in plural). This pronunciation is rejected by official authorities, such as the
Swedish Language Council, and not used in television news. In Sweden there are no widespread slang terms since the euro is a foreign currency. In Finland, the euro is the official currency, and Swedish is an official language alongside
Finnish. The same spelling as in Sweden is used (officially
Swedish in Finland is spelt as in Sweden). The pronunciation, however, is , which has some similarities to
Finnish pronunciation. The abbreviation is like 3,14 €, same as for Finnish. Among Swedish-speaking as well as Finnish-speaking people in
Helsinki, a common slang term is "ege". ==Other languages==