The front of a 500,000₫ bill.
The đồng (VND) is the standard unit of currency used in Vietnam. It has a symbol ₫. It is subdivided into 10 hào, which are divided into 10 xu. The hào and xu units of currency are so worthless that they are no longer issued. Bills exist in denominations of 200₫, 1000₫, 2000₫, 5000₫, 10,000₫, 20,000₫, 50,000₫, 100,000₫ and a new bill worth 500,000₫ (around USD31.70). New coins of 200₫, 1000₫ and 5000₫ have recently been issued [1] (which exist along with the bills of the same value)
As of March 18, 2005, the US dollar was worth 15,817 đồng.
History
In Vietnamese, đồng literally means copper or bronze. This originates from the practice of minting coins from copper before French colonization. When Vietnam was part of French Indochina, the standard unit of currency was the piastre, which itself was a French term for the US dollar. The Vietnamese text on these currencies called it đồng or less commonly bạc ("silver"). After the French left, North and South Vietnam each minted its own separate currency, both named đồng.
On September 2, 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the currency in South Vietnam was changed to the "liberation đồng". Each liberation đồng was worth 500 southern đồng. After the country was unified, the đồng was unified. The northern đồng could be exchanged at a 1:1 rate while the liberation đồng in the south could be exchanged for only 8 hào. On September 4, 1985, the đồng was further revalued, with the new đồng worth 10 old đồng.
In the Vietnamese language, đồng can be used as a generic term for any currency by adding the country name as a qualifier. This practice is more common for more esoteric units of currency. In some overseas Vietnamese-speaking communities, notably Vietnamese Americans, it is used to denote the local currency (USD) and one must refer to VND as đồng Việt Nam (Vietnamese đồng). Similarly, hào and xu are used to translate U.S. "dime" and "cent" respectively into Vietnamese.
After the revaluation of the Romanian leu in mid-2005, the đồng became the third-least valued currency unit.
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