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ban

coin (money) /ˈban/

noun#128 most common

Also: money (plural bani), historical title of a provincial governor

Example sentences

Nu am niciun ban.
I don't have a single penny.
Îmi place să economisesc bani.
I like to save money.
Un leu are o sută de bani.
One leu is worth one hundred bani.
Am pierdut banii din buzunar.
I lost the money from my pocket.
Vechiul ban al Craiovei conducea Oltenia în numele domnitorului.
The old Ban of Craiova ruled Oltenia in the prince's name.
Banul e ochiul dracului, zice o vorbă românească.
Money is the devil's eye, says a Romanian saying.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativebanulbanii
Genitivebanuluibanilor
Accusativebanulbanii
Vocativebanulebanilor

Word family

banimoney (plural of ban)
bănuțsmall coin, penny (diminutive)
bănos, bănoasăprofitable, lucrative
bănesc, băneascăpecuniary, monetary

Etymology

Romanian ban traces back to the medieval title ban, held by regional governors in Croatia and Slavonia under Hungarian rule. Silver coins minted under a ban's authority, called banovac, took his title as their name, much as the word dollar comes from thaler. Romanian borrowed the word in its coin sense, and today ban still names the small copper coin and, in the plural bani, money in general.

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