Meaning & use
hard currency
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablebusinessfinance
Money from a country with a stable economy that is widely accepted around the world.
Grammar: Can be used as a countable noun (a hard currency) or uncountable (hard currency).
Patterns
- in hard currency
- hard currency reserves
- demand hard currency
The country needs hard currency to pay for imports.
Tourists often carry hard currency like US dollars or euros.
The government is trying to attract hard currency from abroad.
Word forms
| plural | hard currencies |
|---|
Common combinations
- hard currency reserves
- The central bank increased its hard currency reserves.
- earn hard currency
- The export industry earns hard currency for the country.
- convert to hard currency
- Local money can be converted to hard currency at the bank.
Synonyms and how they differ
- strong currency
- Similar but emphasizes the currency's value rather than its global acceptance.
- convertible currency
- Focuses on the ability to exchange it freely, which is a feature of hard currencies.
Opposites
Commonly confused: hard currency or soft currency?
hard currency vs soft currency
A soft currency is from a country with an unstable economy and is not widely accepted outside it.
Practice
Which of these is most likely to be considered a hard currency?
Choose one answer.
The US dollar is stable and widely accepted, so it is a hard currency. The other options describe soft currencies or non-convertible money.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hard currency”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.