Lepton pl. Lepta (Greek: Λεπτόν pl. Λεπτά) is the name of various fractional units of currency used in the Greek-speaking world from antiquity until today. The word means "small" or "thin", and during classical and Hellenistic times a lepton was always a small value coin, usually the smallest available denomination of another currency. The coin in the lesson of the widow's mite is referred to as a lepton.
In modern Greece, Lepton (modern form: Lepto, Λεπτό) is the name of the 1/100 denomination of all the official currencies of the Greek state: the phoenix (1827–1832), the drachma (1832–2001) and the euro (2002–current) – the name is the Greek form of "euro cent." Its unofficial currency sign is Λ (lambda). Until the introduction of the euro, no Greek coin had been minted with a denomination lower than 5 lepta since the late 1870s.
Famous quotes containing the word greek:
“Civil servants and priests, soldiers and ballet-dancers, schoolmasters and police constables, Greek museums and Gothic steeples, civil list and services listthe common seed within which all these fabulous beings slumber in embryo is taxation.”
—Karl Marx (18181883)