Language and the euro European currency. Of other national Slavic languages using the Cyrillic alphabet, Macedonian, Russian and Serbian also use the spelling евро. Ukrainian uses євро and Belarusian uses еўра/эўра. In Catalan the official plural is the same as its regular plural "euros". The standard pronunciation of "euro" is . For the cent, the word "cèntim" (, plural "cèntims") is used, since historically this term has been used as the hundredth part of a currency unit. The fraction of the peseta was also called "cèntim", but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago. In the Cornish language, euro is written "ewro" (like "Ewrop"
Euro cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently. Their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002. The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February