lira
Plurallire, lira, liras, lirot, liroth, lirae
- 1The main kind of money used in Turkey.
Like how people in the United States use the dollar.
I exchanged my dollars for lira before flying to Istanbul.
A cup of coffee at that cafe costs only a few lira.
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- 2The money once used in Italy and nearby countries before the euro replaced it.
Before 2002, Italians paid for their groceries in lira.
My grandmother kept a jar of old lira coins from her trip to Rome.
- 3The everyday money used in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
He withdrew several thousand lira from an ATM in Beirut.
Prices in the market were marked in Syrian lira.
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- 4The money once used in Israel before the sheqel replaced it.
Old price tags from the 1970s still showed amounts in lira.
His father was paid in lira before the currency changed.
- 5A folk music instrument from Ukraine, much like a hurdy-gurdy.
Like a music box that you play by turning a handle.
The street musician cranked his lira while singing an old ballad.
She learned to play the lira from her grandfather in the village.
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- 6One of the thin ridges found on the shells of some sea creatures.
Like the fine lines you can feel on a fingerprint, but on a shell.
Run your finger along the shell and you can feel each lira.
Some small sea shells have many tiny lirae across them.
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- 7Another way of writing lyra. Use it for the same stringed instrument.
The musician tuned her lira before the recital began.
He played a soft, sad tune on the lira.
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Practice
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Origins
From Italian lira, which came from Latin lībra. Some forms came through Turkish, Arabic, Maltese, Greek, and Hebrew, but all trace back to the Italian.
From Ukrainian lira, which is ultimately related to the Byzantine lyra (from Ancient Greek lúra).
From Latin līra, meaning "furrow".