Greek lepton

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Lepto redirects here. "Lepto" is sometimes used as a shortened name for Leptospirosis.

Lepton pl. lepta (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 Roman mite was informally called lepton in the Greek-speaking parts of the Roman Empire; this use is seen in the New Testament.

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).

[edit] External links

• Description and pictures of Greek 50 lepta coins