Definition of "monetary unit" [monetary unit]

• The standard unit of value of a currency, as the dollar in the United States or the peso in Mexico. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The ducat was coined in the papal mint from the year 1432; it was a coin of Venetian origin that circulated with the florin, which, in 1531, was succeeded by the scudo, a piece of French origin that remained the monetary unit of the Pontifical States."