Cash is a name for several historical

currencies A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or currency in circulation, circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use wi ...

used in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It is applied to units used in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, and of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

and Princely state of

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. It is also occasionally used to refer to the

Korean mun The ''mun'' (, , ) was introduced as the main currency of Korea in 1625 and stayed in use until 1892. Prior to the ''mun'', cash coins with the inscriptions ''tongbo'' (通寶) and ''jungbo'' (重寶) and silver vases called ''ŭnbyŏng'' wer ...

and the Japanese mon.

Etymology

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

kācu/kāsu, Skr. ''karsha'' 'a weight of silver or gold equal to of a tulā' (Williams). The early Portuguese writers represented the native word by ''cas, casse, caxa,'' the Fr. by ''cas'', the Eng. by ''cass'': the existing Pg. ''caixa'' and Eng. cash are due to a natural confusion with CASH n.1. From an early date the Portuguese applied ''caixa'' (probably on the same analogy) to the small money of other foreign nations, such as that of

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...

, and especially the Chinese, which was also naturally made into cash in English. (Yule)" The English word "

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

," meaning "tangible currency," is an older word from

Middle French Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...

''caisse''.

Chinese cash

In China, ''cash'' - not to be confused with the type of copper coin - refers to a unit used for centuries for copper coinage and banknote equivalents known as ''wén'' (文). Being the first country to implement paper based currency, in 1023 the 交子 paper money currency occur to adapt the economical climate change of globalization brought by fair trade via

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, although metal coins were still in circulation. After the introduction of a unified currency system in 1889, cash continued to be used as a subunit of the yuan with 1000 cash being equal to one yuan. Coins continued to be denominated in cash until the 1920s nationally and for a time thereafter regionally.

Vietnamese cash

Cash (''văn'') was a currency unit for copper coinage in Vietnam until the introduction of the French Indochina piastre in 1885 when it became a sub unit of the piastre usually known as a ''sapèque''.

Madras cash

Cash was a currency unit of

Madras Province The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency in ...

during the period of

British rule in India The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Specifically, it was a subunit of the

fanam Fanam was the currency used historically in major parts of South India, especially during the British Raj. Fanam is the an Anglo-Germanic sound shift (called Grimm's law Grimm's law, also known as the First Germanic Consonant Shift or First Germ ...

rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

, and

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

. *80 cash = 1 fanam *12 fanams = 1 rupee *42 fanams = 1 pagoda Copper coins of 20 cash were called pice, 10 cash were called dodees, and 5 cash were called half dodees.

Travancore cash

Travancore cash was similar to the Madras cash yet differed in the value compared to the rupee. *16 cash = 1 chakram *4 chakram = 1 fanam *7 fanam = 1 rupee thus, 1 rupee = 448 cash.

Notes