Jiao
/ˈdʒaʊ/noun
A monetary unit of mainland China equal to one-tenth of a yuan.
Did you know?The character 角 originally depicted or referred to an animal horn and still means “horn” or “corner” in Chinese, while its monetary sense developed from the idea of a small fractional unit.
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese
Old Chinese
角
“Horn; an animal’s pointed horn, later also a corner or angle”
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
角
“Horn, corner, or angle; the character retained several concrete and geometric meanings”
Late Imperial Chinese
Chinese
角
“A fractional monetary unit in accounting and coinage, equal to one-tenth of a yuan”
20th Century
Mandarin
jiǎo
“The standard Mandarin pronunciation for 角 in its monetary sense”
Modern English
English
jiao
“An English loanword for the Chinese monetary unit equal to one-tenth of a yuan”