A grandson and I were discussing the origin of the names for coins, and “quarter” was obvious, since that coin is a fourth of a dollar. “Nickel” is a bit less obvious, but it is named for one of the metals used in the composition of the coin. We wondered where “dime” might have originated, and I said something to the effect that it probably comes from a French word, or something equally boring. Good guess! The “disme” was a coin struck in 1792, and that name came from an obsolete French word for “tenth.” Apparently colonists didn’t enjoy talking in obsolete French when making their purchases, and “disme” morphed into “dime.”