Why does the US call its 10-cent coin a dime?

Answer 1

The term dime is derived from the French word dîxième which means a 'tenth part.'

In English, the term was first shortened to disme("deem") which was then further shortened to dime.

Interestingly, it's now the only US coin bearing a denomination expressed in a unit other than cents or dollars and as such it's the only Survivor of an early proposal for US Coins that was based on strict multiples of ten. The denominations were to be:

> Mill (or mil), the smallest unit

> Cent, equal to 10 mills

> Dime - 10 cents

> Dollar - 10 dimes

> Eagle - 10 dollars

> Union - 10 eagles

That would have produced a strange method of expressing prices using multiple decimal points. For example, if that system had been adopted a price that we'd express as $137.55 would have been written as 1.3.7.5.5 ; that is, one union, 3 eagles, 7 dollars, 5 dimes and 5 cents (!!!) It was almost as cumbersome as the British guineas/pounds/shillings/etc. system that the new country wanted to get rid of, so the much simpler method we still use was fortunately chosen instead.

Coins denominated in mills and unions were never minted, but "eagle" coins were struck in 1795 and continued to be made until 1932. In 1986 the name "eagle" was brought back for special collectors' coins made of silver and gold, but these have virtually nothing in common with the original eagle coins.

The word, dime, originates from the Latin word, decem - meaning tenth.