Mill (currency)

The mill (American English), mil (Commonwealth English, except Canada), or millieme (from French) is a subunit of currency, used in several countries as 1⁄1000 of the base unit. It is symbolized as ₥ (U+20A5 ₥ MILL SIGN).

In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to a thousandth of a United States dollar (a hundredth of a dime or 1⁄10 of a cent). In the United Kingdom, it was proposed during the decades of discussion on decimalisation as a 1⁄1000 division of the pound sterling. While this system was never adopted in the United Kingdom, the currencies of some British or formerly British territories did adopt it, such as the Palestine pound and the Maltese lira.

The term comes from the Latin "millesimum", meaning "thousandth part".

Usage

United States

In the United States, the term was first used by the Continental Congress in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar".

The Coinage Act of 1792 describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar:

That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units, dismes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and milles or thousandths, a disme being the tenth part of a dollar, a cent the hundredth part of a dollar, a mille the thousandth part of a dollar, and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation.

The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia made half cents worth five mills each from 1793 to 1857.

Tokens in this denomination were issued by some states and local governments (and by some private interests) for such uses as payment of sales tax.