The duit (plural: ''duiten''; en , doit) was a copper Dutch

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

worth 2 ''penning'', with 8 duit pieces equal to one ''

stuiver The stuiver was a coin used in the Netherlands, worth Dutch Guilders ( 16 ''penning'' or 8 '' duit'', later 5 cents). It was also minted on the Lower Rhine region and the Dutch colonies. The word can still refer to the 5 euro cent coin, which ...

'' and 160 duit pieces equal to one ''gulden''. In

Dutch Indonesia The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

4 duit pieces were equal to one ''

''. To prevent smuggling, the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC) ordered special coins with the company monogram embossed upon them. Only those pieces were valid in Indonesia. The duit was once used in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

in areas under Dutch rule. The name of the coin was preserved for a long time in the 'fourduitcoin' (or 'plak'), because it was worth 4 duiten = half a stuiver (or 2.5 cents). The

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaans'' ...

has many expressions,

proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...

s and sayings which feature the word 'duit'. * "Putting a duit in the bag" () – to contribute something * "He is a duit-thief" () – he is very greedy * "He has much shit, but little duit" () – he is a boaster * "To be courageous like a three-duit haddock" () – to be cowardly * "To give someone of four duit back" () – to tell someone the truth

Influence

The single largest recipient of Dutch ''duit'' coins was

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and Malabar did also circulate the coins. As the monetary unit was widespread throughout the Malay archipelago, the word ''duit'' eventually was absorbed into Malay vocabulary becoming a slang word for 'money' besides ''wang'' ( Malaysian spelling) and ''uang'' ( Indonesian spelling). The duit is also referred to as the "New York penny" due to its use as a Colonial monetary unit in Dutch New Amsterdam (later New York) and for years later, long after Dutch rule had passed. It was part of the coinage used to purchase the island of Manhattan from the locals. The Duit circulated also in the

duchy of Cleves The Duchy of Cleves (german: Herzogtum Kleve; nl, Hertogdom Kleef) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval . It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves ...

and

Guelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...

, which may be the reason why in the 18th century the expression ''kein Deut'' entered the German language, meaning ''not a bit''. Duit (''Duttu'') is a slang fo
low denomination money
in Tamil.

Non-copper duit

In addition to copper,

proof coinage Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for co ...

of the duit was also minted in silver and gold.

References

Coins of the Netherlands Indonesian words and phrases Malay words and phrases Coins of Sri Lanka {{Coin-stub