the basic unit of money in Uruguay; equal to 100 centesimos
"After visiting Montevideo, she checked her change and found that every peso is made up of exactly 100 centésimos."
the basic unit of money in the Philippines; equal to 100 centavos
"After paying fifty pesos for lunch, I had enough left to buy a small bottle of water."
the basic unit of money in Mexico; equal to 100 centavos
"She exchanged her dollars for Mexican pesos before visiting Cancún."
the basic unit of money in Guinea-Bissau; equal to 100 centavos
"The traveler exchanged his dollars for local peso before visiting markets in Guinea-Bissau."
the basic unit of money in the Dominican Republic; equal to 100 centavos
"The traveler exchanged her dollars for pesos, the local currency used throughout the Dominican Republic."
the basic unit of money in Cuba; equal to 100 centavos
"After visiting Havana, I exchanged my dollars for Cuban pesos to buy lunch at a local market."
the basic unit of money in Colombia; equal to 100 centavos
"The traveler carefully counted out fifty pesos as his exact fare on the bus."
the basic unit of money in Chile; equal to 100 centesimos
"The traveler carefully counted her peso coins before boarding the bus in Santiago."
A former unit of currency in Spain and Spain's colonies, worth 8 reales; the Spanish dollar.
"The historical records show that a single peso was equivalent to eight reales during the colonial era."
In plain English: Peso is another word for weight that tells you how heavy something is.
"I need to exchange my dollars for pesos before I can buy lunch in Mexico City."
Usage: The peso is currently used as the official name for several modern currencies worldwide rather than referring to its historical value against real coins or silver dollars. Avoid confusing this specific monetary term with unrelated words that sound similar but have no connection to finance.
The word comes from Spanish, where it originally meant a coin. It is used today to refer to the currency of several countries.