The plural of euro

The British may have not adopted the euro but they certainly have a say on how their language is spoken. In the UK as far as I know you have 1 Euro and 2 or more Euros. Just as you have 1 pound and 2 pounds.

Whatever anyone may think, you and I and our respective grandparents may possess 1 EURO or 1,000.000 EURO. Officially euro is both singular and plural. The British who haven't even adopted this currency, have no say in the matter.

I have been saying euros ever since the new currency was introduced. As long s I'm not breaking any law and risking getting fined, imprisoned, burnt at the stake or beheaded I'm not letting some big wig in Europe telling me what to call my money! EUROS so there!

The plural of euro, in English, is euros. Maltese is a bit more complicated because we use the singular form with most quantities i.e. anything above 10 (hdax il-lira or mitt lira, for example). I would expect the plural of 'ewro' in Maltese (for 2 to 10) to remain ewro - i.e. we say 'zewg ewro' or 'tlett ewro' but somehow I feel a hint of artificiality there. It doesn't ring quite right somehow, after over forty years of saying 'zewg liri' and not 'zewg lira' to say 'zewg ewro' and not 'zewg ewri', but if that is the usage, then that's correct. Language is a living thing and at the end of the day the most spoken word wins.

Just to throw a little more fat on the fire, I am looking at a 20 euro (no 's' at the end) note and a Sterling £10 note which says distinctly 'Ten Pounds'
From this one can conclude that the singular and plural of euro are the same.

As for 'ewro' I shal leave that to the lexicographers.

I can't believe I actually read this letter and all the comments attached to it!

Really, this whole debate is a complete waste of space! Who cares. Who really cares about how you spell euro(s)!!!!!?

Shame on me for wasting my time reading it.........................and double, double shame on me for commenting.

When checking your balance on a prepaid fixed line with one of our 'best' telephone service providers you will hear on the english version, that your balance is xxxxx EWRA ...... now that's what I call a maltese concoction for the plural of euro and highly embarrassing should a foreigner apply for this service! I did bring their attention to it some months ago, but guess to no avail.

Things are simple; the singular is "ewro" (not "juro" or such a thing), and the plural is "ewro", too...

Actually Mr Mercieca you are wrong.

In English the plural of Euro is EuroS, just as the plural of cent is centS. True that on OFFICIAL legal documents EURO and CENT is used for both singular and plural but that is simply because it has to appear the same for all EU countries, the same reason that we have to use Euro and not EWro on legal documents in Malta.

The fact remains that in English the correct term remains EuroS and CentS!

Formally the plural of "euro" is "euro". However I would like to point out to your correspondent that according to the European Commission, Directorate General for Translation: English Style Guide section 20.8, "The euro. Like 'pound', 'dollar' or any other currency name in English, the word 'euro' is written in lower case with no initial capital and, where appropriate, takes the plural 's' (as does 'cent')."

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf

This use of natural plurals is intended for use by the general public and for non-legal documents.

A google search for the word "euros" (place inveted commas to exclude other versions of the word) gives about 160,000,000 results (most of which refer to the currency). This hardly makes the term a "new Maltese concoction".

So, in a nutshell, lets all say "euros", as is more spontaneous, and leave the legalities for contracts and the like.

As I do not live in Malta I may be mistaken but did I not see somewhere that the Maltese spelling is to be Ewro? That should confuse foreigeners even more!

The plural of euro is euros, abroad too, with some exceptions like Italy. If you google the word euros it will find 149,000,000 websites where the currency is mentioned in plural that way.

Dear Mr. Mercieca,

Not only are you mistaken, but one could also interpret your words as having within them a rather large portion of snobbism which can haunt some people on these islands, making them think they are in some way or another better by having a "mightier" grasp of the English language.
While you are, in essence, correct as to the legal and official linguistic plural as being "euro", I would like to direct you to the European Commission Directorate-General for Translation's document "English Style Guide", to be found on http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf, which clearly states that

"The euro. Like ‘pound’, ‘dollar’ or any other currency name in English, the word ‘euro’ is written in lower case with no initial capital and, where appropriate, takes the plural ‘s’ (as does ‘cent’)"

So, far from being a "Maltese concoction" which "visitors to this fair land" will have "something to say about", you will find it is used widely all over Europe, and is accepted as an English standard word.