Believe it or not, the Polish word for money originally comes from German. It appears that pieniądze is an early loanword dating from the Medieval era, a time when a big number of modern inventions and their names came to Poland from its more developed Western neighbour.
The Polish pieniądz comes from Old Saxon pening, which has an equivalent in the contemporary German Pfenning (or the English penny). With the introduction of the euro and euro cent as common currency in many countries of the European Union, the German word is significantly less popular than it was before, but one could say that it lives on in Polish. As of 2016, Poland has not yet joined the Eurozone which means that the valid currency (Pol. waluta) is złoty – a word meaning literally 'golden'.
The place where you exchange (wymieniać) money is called a kantor, but don't expect a tenor singer sitting in the booth.
1 złoty (abbreviated to zł) has 100 groszy (gr).
This word, in turn, has become a generic term for money in the languages of Polish Eastern neighbours: compare the Ukrainian гроші (hroshi) and the Belarusian грошы (hrošy).
But don't be surprised if, while in Poland, you get to hear more of pieniążki rather than pieniądze. Pieniążki is a diminutive of pieniądze, which doesn’t mean Poles like their money with small face values or in tiny quantities. They just love diminutives. But, be warned, some people hate this word and would never use it.
Other words for 'money' you may also hear in Poland is forsa, kasa or the slang word hajs.
Poland Word by Word allows foreigners to familiarise themselves with everyday Polish words by explaining their cultural context and significance. For more pronunciation tips, explore our Foreigner’s Guide to the Polish Alphabet.