tiaon.
/ˈtjɑːəʊ//tjaʊ/ A string of Chinese ‘cash’ (perforated copper coins). Nominally the tiao contained 1000 cash; but the actual number of coins varied from 1000 downwards, according to the custom of the locality.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > Chinese coins
cash1750
li1771
fen1852
tiao1883
yuan1921
tael1926
jiao1949
1883 S. W. Williams Middle Kingdom (enlarged ed.) II. xvi. 86 (Banks and Paper Money) Their [the notes'] face value ranges from one to a hundred tiao, or strings of cash, but their worth depends on the exchange between silver and cash.
1886 Rep. of Sec. Treas. (U.S.) 390 (Cent. D.) Twenty miles from Peking the big cash are no longer in circulation. Small cash are used, [a nominal] 1000 [at Tientsin, really 500] of which make a tiao, and 3000 to 3500 of which are equal to a tael of silver.
1908 H. B. Morse Trade Chinese Empire v. 130 Cash are strung on strings, in rolls of 100, of which 10 go to the string or tiao, or ch‘uan, formerly called kuan.
1910 Blackwood's Mag. Dec. 763/2 I paid a tiaou for this; but I don't begrudge the money.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1883