Indian Rupee - Etymology

Etymology

the word "rupee" was derived from the Sanskrit word raupya, meaning "silver".

  • টকা (tôka) in Assamese
  • টাকা (taka) in Bengali
  • tanka(tanka) in Oriya
  • રૂપિયો (rupiyo) in Gujarati
  • रुपया (rupayā) in Hindi
  • روپے (rupay) in Kashmiri and Urdu
  • ರೂಪಾಯಿ (rūpāyi) in Kannada, Tulu and Konkani
  • रुपया (rupayā) in Konkani
  • രൂപ (rūpā) in Malayalam
  • रुपये (rupaye) in Marathi
  • रुपियाँ(rupiya) in Nepali
  • ਰੁਪਈਆ (rupiā) in Punjabi
  • रूप्यकम् (rūpyakam) in Sanskrit
  • रुपियो (rupiyo) in Sindhi (Devnagari)
  • ரூபாய் (rūpāi) in Tamil
  • రూపాయి (rūpāyi) in Telugu

However, in the Assam Valley, West Bengal, Tripura and Orissa the Indian rupee is officially known by names derived from the word टङ्क (Tanka), which means "money". Thus, the rupee is called টকা (tôka) in Assamese, টাকা (Taka) in Bengali and ଟଙ୍କା (Tanka) in Oriya. The amount (and the word "rupee") is, accordingly, written on Indian banknotes in 15 Indian languages.

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