Language and the euro and a 50 euro banknote is called ("penintariko"), derivatives of the words for ten, twenty and fifty. 10 lepta of a drachma were called ("dekara"), but since lepta of the drachma were out of circulation long before the euro, this word is now considered too old-fashioned and only used in old expressions and thus it is not used for the 10 eurocent coin. Nevertheless, all Greeks understand the word to stand for 10 cents of any currency and thus use it for non-euro currencies like the dime of the US dollar. The same is true for the 5-cent coin which
History of the euro ECU 1:1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979-1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, meaning there was only a minor difference between pegging a currency against ECU and pegging it against the D-mark. The eurozone was born with its first 11 Member States on 1 January 1999. The first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1