Word of the Day – ECU

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ECU \AY.kue or ay.KUE\ n. the name of an old French gold coin, adopted by several others since

Word of the Day ECU
First introduced into France by King Louis IX in 1266, the ecu was France’s first gold coin. The name has been reincarnated several times since, but mostly as a silver coin. Like this outstanding 1767 specimen I spotted on eBay this morning for around $US300…

Word of the Day ECU Silver
No, I didn’t buy it!

Ecu has appeared in many American newspaper crossword puzzles, so it is definitely one the avid solver will need to remember. The sorts of clues you should now be able to quickly decode include…

  • Antique French coin
  • Calais coin of old
  • Coin depicting Louis XVI
  • French coin during the Renaissance
  • Old coin worth five francs

I’m sure you get the idea.

By the way, if you do decide to go eBay shopping for an ecu, don’t get too excited by all the perfect shiny-looking specimens going for a few bucks. The label on those coins will almost certainly refer to the other ECU (European Currency Unit).

And if that tip saves you a few hundred bucks, I think you definitely owe me another beer!

Collins/CSW/SOWPODS players get to extend today’s word to form another old French coin: the CARDECU or CARDECUE

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One thought on “Word of the Day – ECU”

  1. perhaps you should invite your readers to have a
    go at creating a cryptic clue-just a thought

    ecu means shield from the Latin scutum
    scutum is playable,a horny plate scuta pl,
    also cognate scute (an ecu) with scudo,scudi escudo

    silver reminds me of argent
    and livres is an anagram of silver

    in the scud is a Scottish expression for being in the nude
    nice coinage dont you think

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