Etymology: < rial adj. Compare royal n. and real n.¹, which both ultimately reflect formal variation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French real , roial , rial , etc., uses as noun of real , roial , rial , etc., adjective (see real adj.¹, royal adj., rial adj.). In sense 3 after Anglo-Norman real (a1330 in this sense). In the specific uses in sense 1 after Middle French roial, royal type of coin struck by the king or which bears the king's image (c1250 in Old French; 1336 in royal d'or ), also rial (1360 in a text from Orleans); compare also Middle French real , Middle French reale , French réale , denoting (chiefly Spanish) coins (see real n.³), and also Old Occitan real , rial , Catalan reial (now usually ral ) type of coin struck by the king. In sense 2 rendering Spanish real in various specific uses denoting coins (see real n.³). Compare also rial n.³The pronunciation is fully naturalized, showing the expected development of a word form borrowed in late Middle English. However, it is possible that some later examples in sense 2 may instead show a pronunciation with /iː/, hence identical to that of rial n.³ See further discussion at that entry on the overlap between the two words. With β. forms perhaps compare forms at real adj.¹ and n.¹

Etymology: Probably < roil v.² Compare later roil n.², rile n.

Etymology: Partly < Persian riyāl, denoting the monetary unit of Iran, and partly < Arabic riyāl, denoting the monetary unit of Saudi Arabia and (frequently with distinguishing epithet) of several other Middle Eastern countries, as well as (in historical or colloquial use) notional monetary units denoting fractions of the currencies of several other Arabic-speaking countries, both ultimately partly < Spanish real and partly < Portuguese real (for both see real n.³, and compare also the note below on the Spanish word). The precise relationship of the Persian and Arabic words is uncertain, as is the role of Ottoman Turkish riyāl in the transmission between Spanish (and Portuguese) and these languages (compare the historical discussion in Encycl. Islam new ed. (2009) at riyāl). Compare earlier rial n.¹Although the word shows partial formal overlap with rial n.¹, and at least one instance of that word (quot. 1866 at rial n.¹ 2a) shows it in an Arabic geographical context (and may have been transmitted via Arabic), there is a semantic division between the two words: rial n.¹ I. denotes either historical coins and monetary units or uses (in various geographical contexts) of the Spanish coin, whereas rial n.³ denotes monetary units of modern nation states. The Spanish real circulated widely in North African and Middle Eastern countries, as well as in South Asia. For examples of its use in those areas, compare quots. 1866, 1884, 2008 at rial n.¹ 2a, and also Arabic riyāl māriyā tarēzā Maria Theresa dollar (see Maria Theresa n.). The borrowing of the Spanish word into Arabic is also clearly seen in Moroccan Arabic riyāl , which is widely used colloquially to denote the amount of five centimes (one-twentieth of a dirham), although officially only dirhams and centimes exist; part of Morocco was a Spanish protectorate before 1956. In quot. 1959 at sense 3, the word denotes a former monetary unit equal to one-tenth of the Sudanese pound.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman rial, riel, variants of Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French real, reial, roial, etc., royal (see real adj.¹ and royal adj.). Compare Old Occitan rial (13th cent.).By the end of the 17th cent. the word had come to be regarded as a (nonstandard) pronunciation of royal adj. (compare E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §254).