peso

noun

pe·​so ˈpā-(ˌ)sō 

ˈpe-

plural pesos

1

: an old silver coin of Spain and Spanish America equal to eight reales

2

the basic monetary unit of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Philippines, and Uruguay see Money Table

Examples of peso in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The greenback is up 31% against the Argentine peso compared to last year, largely due to the country’s economic woes. —Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025

The Thai baht>, the Philippine peso and the Singapore dollar saw slight gains against the U.S. dollar on Monday. —Reuters, NBC news, 31 Mar. 2025

Boats run regularly throughout the day from the main pier, and a round-trip is roughly 100 pesos (US$5). —Meagan Drillinger, AFAR Media, 28 Mar. 2025

Megaworld—the property arm of billionaire Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global—will spend 30 billion pesos ($523 million) over the next five years to boost its office portfolio by 25% to two million square meters by 2030. —Ian Sayson, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, literally, weight, from Latin pensum — more at poise

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

peso

noun

pe·​so ˈpā-sō 

plural pesos

1

: an old silver coin of Spain or Spanish America

2

a

: the basic unit of money of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Philippines, and Uruguay

b

: a coin or bill representing one peso