The duit (plural: ''duiten''; en , doit) was a copper Dutch

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in orde ...

worth 2 ''penning'', with 8 duit pieces equal to one '' stuiver'' and 160 duit pieces equal to one ''gulden''. In

Dutch Indonesia The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised Factory (trading post), trading posts o ...

4 duit pieces were equal to one '' stuiver''. To prevent smuggling, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ordered special coins with the company monogram embossed upon them. Only those pieces were valid in Indonesia. The duit was once used in the Americas in areas under Dutch rule. The name of the coin was preserved for a long time in the 'fourduitcoin' (or 'plak'), because it was worth 4 duiten = half a stuiver (or 2.5 cents). The

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaan ...

has many expressions, proverbs and sayings which feature the word 'duit'. * "Putting a duit in the bag" () – to contribute something * "He is a duit-thief" () – he is very greedy * "He has much shit, but little duit" () – he is a boaster * "To be courageous like a three-duit haddock" () – to be cowardly * "To give someone of four duit back" () – to tell someone the truth

Influence

The single largest recipient of Dutch ''duit'' coins was

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and Malabar did also circulate the coins. As the monetary unit was widespread throughout the Malay archipelago, the word ''duit'' eventually was absorbed into Malay vocabulary becoming a slang word for 'money' besides ''wang'' (

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regar ...

spelling) and ''uang'' (

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...

spelling). The duit is also referred to as the "New York penny" due to its use as a Colonial monetary unit in Dutch New Amsterdam (later New York) and for years later, long after Dutch rule had passed. It was part of the coinage used to purchase the island of Manhattan from the locals. The Duit circulated also in the duchy of Cleves and Guelders, which may be the reason why in the 18th century the expression ''kein Deut'' entered the German language, meaning ''not a bit''. Duit (''Duttu'') is a slang fo
low denomination money
in Tamil.

Non-copper duit

In addition to copper, proof coinage of the duit was also minted in silver and gold.

References

Coins of the Netherlands Indonesian words and phrases Malay words and phrases Coins of Sri Lanka {{Coin-stub