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In the mountains of Bohemia is the small town of Jáchymov. In the early 16th century, the town was known by its German name, Sankt Joachimstal. At that time, a silver mine was opened nearby, and coins were minted to which the name joachimstaler was applied. In German this was shortened to Taler. Shortly afterward the Dutch or Low German form daler was borrowed into English to refer to the Taler and other coins that were patterned after it, such as the Spanish peso, which circulated widely in Britain’s North American colonies. Our modern word dollar is a different spelling of this daler. When the newly independent American colonies settled on an official monetary unit in 1785, they chose the name dollar.
Examples of dollar in a Sentence
Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 17 Dec. 2025
Referencing a Weld County commissioner's sentiments, Rourke raised a concern of how his county's government is looking to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a new courthouse complex in Greeley while also cutting positions like those in his office.
—Dillon Thomas, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025
But far from being a multibillion-dollar empire, Location Ventures had a handful of viable projects being developed under its name and its affiliate, URBIN.
—Sarah Blaskey, Miami Herald, 16 Dec. 2025
Stern first signed with Sirius in 2004 (prior to its merger with XM), in part to be free of oversight by the FCC, which had levied millions of dollars in fines on terrestrial radio stations that carried his show for alleged indecency.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 16 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Dollar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dollar. Accessed 18 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dollar
noun
from Dutch daler "silver coin formerly used in Germany," from German Taler (same meaning), shortened from Joachimstaler "a coin made in Sankt Joachimsthal (Saint Joachim's Valley) in Bohemia (a former kingdom in Europe)"
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