Other forms: dollars
The dollar is the currency of the United States, and of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a dozen other countries. Five dollars, the dollar rose, dollar bills.
The symbol is $, written before the number. When more than one country is meant the currency takes a letter: US$, C$, A$. In news writing, the dollar with the definite article always means the American one, and it is the world's main reserve currency, which is why the dollar strengthened is a headline everywhere. Note buck, which is informal American for a dollar, and the million-dollar question, meaning the one that matters most.
1noundollarThe currency of the United States and several other countries.
“This coffee costs three dollars in New York.”
2nounvalueThe value of the US currency on the exchange markets.
“The dollar fell against every major currency.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
dollar is a currency.
German Taler was short for Joachimsthaler, a coin from Joachimsthal in Bohemia. Dutch daler brought it to English, and the Spanish dollar circulating in the American colonies gave the new republic its unit. The world's dominant currency is named after a valley in what is now the Czech Republic.
Dutch
daalder
English, today
dollar
Built from
Borrowed from Dutch daalder. Attested since the mid-16th century, from early Dutch daler, daalder, from German Taler, Thaler (“dollar”), earlier Joachimsthaler, literally “of Joachimstal”, the town where the original dollars were minted. The name means “(Saint) Joachim's valley”, from Joachim + Tal. Possibly reinforced by the Dutch leeuwendaalder, which was also used in the American colonies. a doublet of taler//thaler and tolar.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA