Gourde
/ɡʊərd/noun
A unit of currency in Haiti, divided into 100 centimes.
Did you know?The gourde’s name comes from French, where it originally meant a gourd or bottle-shaped vessel, not money—an old reminder that words often travel farther than empires.
Etymological Timeline
Late Latin
Latin
gurda
“a bottle or flask-shaped vessel”
Old French
Old French
gourde
“a gourd; a bottle or flask”
18th Century
French
gourde
“a monetary unit used in French colonial contexts”
1813
Haitian Creole/French
gourde
“the name adopted for Haiti’s currency”
Modern English
English
gourde
“the currency of Haiti”