soft currencyn.
/ˌsɒf(t) ˈkʌrənsi/, /ˌsɒf(t) ˈkʌrn̩si/, U.S. /ˌsɔf(t) ˈkərənsi/, /ˌsɑf(t) ˈkərənsi/ 1. Currency, or a currency, in the form of banknotes, bills, etc., as opposed to coins; paper currency. Later also: unsecured paper credit as opposed to coins, banknotes, or other objects or documents viewed as having exchangeable value. Also figurative. Cf. soft adj. 26a.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > types of currency
soft currency1837
fiat-money1880
token coinage1881
token-money1889
token currency1893
monopoly money1895
hard currency1940
soft currency1940
reserve currency1950
petrocurrency1974
cryptocurrency1991
commodity dollar1998
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > paper money > [noun]
paper money1669
bank paper1696
paper1704
rag1797
scrieve1800
rag money1808
soft1809
soft currency1837
stamps1872
scratch1914
folding money1930
ready1937
1837 Globe (Washington, D.C.) 16 June We care not how soon specie payments may be resumed. The sooner the better for those who prefer a hard to a soft currency.
1876 70th Anniv. Celebration New-Eng. Soc. N. Y. 33 Here before him is a great company, mostly of merchants, filled almost to overflowing with the soft currency of Delmonico, which is certainly irredeemable.
1900 Spectator 24 Feb. 261/2 Mafeking..has adopted a soft currency pro tem., but conducts its banking business in ‘a commodious bomb-proof apartment’.
1980 D. P. Szatmary Shay's Rebellion iii. 40 Cornered by retailers with calls for specie, they could have more easily paid their debts with soft currency.
2004 J. A. Rabkin Case for Sovereignty i. 5 What they could offer or withhold was not the hard coin of military assistance but the soft currency of ‘legitimacy’.
2. A currency which is not convertible into other currencies, or whose price in terms of other currencies is expected to fall. Cf. hard currency n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > types of currency
soft currency1837
fiat-money1880
token coinage1881
token-money1889
token currency1893
monopoly money1895
hard currency1940
soft currency1940
reserve currency1950
petrocurrency1974
cryptocurrency1991
commodity dollar1998
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > currency systems and policies
decimal currency1824
bimetallism1876
monometallism1878
free silver1889
polymetallism1890
silverism1895
symmetallism1895
trimetallism1897
managed currency1898
single currency1900
compensated dollar1912
commodity dollar1918
soft currency1940
1940 Economist 6 Apr. 609/1 There are some currencies—the ‘soft’ currencies, notably the lira and the yen—for which no official rates are fixed.
1949 Times 10 Sept. 5/7 Soft currency..is a relative rather than an absolute term. It means a currency of which other countries (or some other countries) have earned more than they can willingly spend in the country whose currency it is... A soft currency is by definition, non-convertible—i.e., cannot be converted into gold or dollars... A currency may, however, be ‘transferable’ (within limits) and yet remain a soft currency in relation to some other currencies.
1960 Economist 15 Oct. 241/1 The United States now ‘sells’ abroad each year surplus farm products worth more than $1 billion, taking in exchange soft currencies—as one bureaucrat calls them, ‘clam shells, coloured buttons and other forms of local currency’.
2008 R. S. Khatta Risk Managem. xi. 184 Soft currencies that are very illiquid and totally unconvertible are usually found in countries that are in the pre- and early emergent phases of economic development.
Compounds
General attributive, esp. designating a region in which a soft currency is used, as soft currency area, soft currency country.
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1837 Daily Ohio Statesman 20 Nov. Advocating Federalism, Abolitionism, Amalgamationism, Anti-masonry and soft currency doctrine, in short any doctrine opposed to democracy.
1876 Logansport (Indiana) Daily Star 27 June To-day the soft currency question is practically out of consideration.
1947 World Today Mar. 104 The special dollar problem arising from the convertibility of war-time sterling balances and from the trade surpluses with the ‘soft currency’ countries.
1963 China Q. No. 15. 30 Since a serious drain on the economy would occur if local currency loan repayments were in fact called in, these soft currency loans may be considered as grants.
1989 Iranian Stud. 22 (end matter) Colleagues from soft currency countries are exempted from paying their participation fees in advance.
2010 Social & Econ. Stud. 59 284 It is not clear that there is any advantage in operating a soft currency system inside a soft currency area.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1837