α. 1800s Reichs mark, 1800s– Reichsmark.
β. 1900s– Reichmark.
Also with lower-case initial.Reichsmarkn.
/ˈrʌɪxsmɑːk/, /ˈrʌɪksmɑːk/, U.S. /ˈraɪksˌmɑrk/ Now historical.
The German mark. Cf. mark n.2 2d.Originally an unofficial name, but from 1924 to 1948 used as the official designation of the German currency (replacing the Rentenmark and replaced by the Deutschmark). Later historical use chiefly refers to this official designation.
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society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > specific German or Austrian
groschen1617
shock1617
schilling1753
Reichsmark1872
mark1883
Rentenmark1923
Westmark1947
Deutschmark1948
Ostmark1948
1872 Times 12 Nov. 6/1 The law for the conversion of Hamburg Banco marks into the new gold Reichs marks will be published this week.
1891 Aberdeen Weekly Jrnl. 9 Oct. 1/3 Bonds of £19 15s 6d, fcs. 500, roubles 125, fl. 239, Reichsmark 404, kroner 350, dollars 96.25.
1921 Ann. Amer. Polit. & Social Sci. 97 18/2 General financial disintegration has set in and the reichsmark has depreciated from 8 cents to less than a cent and a half.
1924 Times 7 Nov. 11/6 The new banknotes of 10, 20, 50 and 100 Reichsmarks, which are part of the reformed and stabilized German currency..were exhibited at the Reichsbank this morning.
1940 J. F. Kennedy Why Eng. Slept vi. 143 There was the great problem of having to figure amounts in Reichmarks, which then had to be translated into pounds.
1978 Time 3 July 8/1 The old reichsmarks of the Nazi regime had become worthless.
1997 J. Hawes Rancid Aluminium (1998) 7 But even deutschmarks can come and go: who knows when they will become reichsmarks again, or east-marks, or be two million to the dollar like in grandad's youth?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1872