piastre

thumb|alt= 10 Egyptian piastres (copper-nickel alloy composition and silver color); coin's obverse depicts Muhammad Ali Mosque from a flat perspective, coin reverse contains a Kufic font inscription of “Jumhuriyat Masr Al-Arabia”, translating to the Arab Republic of Egypt, below which the denomination of 10 piastres is written as number hovering over the word “qurush”, translating to piastres, which bends with the curvature of the coins edge, which is surrounded by the Gregorian (1984) and Hijra (1404) dates. | Image of 10 Egyptian piastres (currently valueless, thus absent from circulation) thumb|A 100-piastre note from French Indochina, circa 1954 thumb|French Indochina piastre, 1885

The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venetian traders in the Levant in the 16th century. thumb|İmage of 50 Turkish piastres (Turkish:50 kuruş). Istanbul map and 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü in the background. These pesos, minted continually for centuries, were readily accepted by traders in many parts of the world. After the countries of Latin America had gained independence, pesos of Mexico began flowing in through the trade routes, and became prolific in the Far East, taking the place of the Spanish pieces of eight which had been introduced by the Spanish at Manila, and by the Portuguese at Malacca. When the French colonised Indochina, they began issuing the new French Indochinese piastre (piastre de commerce), which was equal in value to the familiar Spanish and Mexican pesos.