The
mill or
mille (sometimes
mil in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, when discussing property taxes in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, or previously in
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
) is a now-abstract unit of
currencyIn economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
used sometimes in
accountingA coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money. For example, the mill is a coin of account in the United States...
. In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to of a
United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
(a tenth of a
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
). In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
it was proposed during the decades of discussion on the
decimalization of the poundDecimal Day was the day the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies.-Old system:Under the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence , with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a...
as a division of the
pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. Several other currencies used the mill, such as the
Maltese liraThe lira was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was often used locally...
.
The term comes from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
"millesimum", meaning "thousandth part".
United States
In the United States, the term was first used by the
Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar."
The
Coinage Act (1792)The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar:
The
mill or
mille ({{Unicode|₥}}) (sometimes
mil in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, when discussing property taxes in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, or previously in
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
) is a now-abstract unit of
currencyIn economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
used sometimes in
accountingA coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money. For example, the mill is a coin of account in the United States...
. In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to {{frac|1000}} of a
United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
(a tenth of a
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
). In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
it was proposed during the decades of discussion on the
decimalization of the poundDecimal Day was the day the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies.-Old system:Under the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence , with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a...
as a {{frac|1000}} division of the
pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. Several other currencies used the mill, such as the
Maltese liraThe lira was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was often used locally...
.
The term comes from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
"millesimum", meaning "thousandth part".
United States
In the United States, the term was first used by the
Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar."
The
Coinage Act (1792)The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar:
The
mill or
mille ({{Unicode|₥}}) (sometimes
mil in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, when discussing property taxes in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, or previously in
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
) is a now-abstract unit of
currencyIn economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
used sometimes in
accountingA coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money. For example, the mill is a coin of account in the United States...
. In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to {{frac|1000}} of a
United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
(a tenth of a
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
). In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
it was proposed during the decades of discussion on the
decimalization of the poundDecimal Day was the day the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies.-Old system:Under the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence , with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a...
as a {{frac|1000}} division of the
pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. Several other currencies used the mill, such as the
Maltese liraThe lira was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was often used locally...
.
The term comes from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
"millesimum", meaning "thousandth part".
United States
In the United States, the term was first used by the
Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar."
The
Coinage Act (1792)The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar:
{{quote|That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units,
{{not a typoThe dime is a coin 10 cents, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as "one dime". The denomination was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U.S...
or tenths,
centsThe United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse...
or hundredths, and milles or thousandths, a {{not a typo|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.}}
Tokens in this denomination were issued by some states and local governments (and by some private interests) for such uses as payment of
sales taxA sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}} These were of inexpensive material such as
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, aluminum,
plasticA plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
or
paperPaper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
. Rising
inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
depreciated the value of these tokens in relation to the value of their constituent materials; this depreciation led to their eventual abandonment. (Virtually none were made after the 1960s.)
Nowadays, most Americans would refer to fractions of a cent rather than mills, a term which is widely unknown. For example, a gasoline price of $3.019 per gallon, if pronounced in full, would be "three dollars (and) one and nine-tenths cents". Discount coupons, such as those for grocery items, usually include in their fine print a statement such as "Cash value less than {{frac|10}} of 1 cent." There are also common occurrences of "half-cent" discounts on goods bought in quantity. However, the term "mill" is still used when discussing billing in the electric power industry as short-hand for the lengthier "{{frac|1000}} of a dollar per kilowatt hour". The term is also commonly used when discussing stock prices, the issuance of founder's stock of a company, and cigarette taxes.
Property tax
Property taxA property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es are also expressed in terms of mills per dollar assessed (a mill levy, known more widely in the US as a "mill rate"). For instance, with a millage rate of 5.753 mills, a $100,000 house would be taxed 575,300 mills, or $575.30. The term is often spelled "mil" when used in this context.
Finance
The term mill is often used in
finance"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, particularly in conjunction with equity market micro-structure, as one hundredth of a cent. For example, a broker that charges 5 mils per share is taking in $0.50 every 1000 shares traded. Additionally, in finance the term is spelled "mil".
Fiction
Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
introduced a fictional elaboration of the mill in
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
. When Hank Morgan, the American
time travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
er, introduces decimal currency to
ArthurianKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
Britain, he has it denominated in cents, mills, and "milrays", or tenths of a mill (the name perhaps suggested by "
myriadMyriad , "numberlesscountless, infinite", is a classical Greek word for the number 10,000. In modern English, the word refers to an unspecified large quantity.-History and usage:...
", meaning ten thousand or by the Portuguese and Brazilian
milreisThe mil-réis was effectively a unit of currency in both Portugal and Brazil .The usage of mil-réis as a word dates back to the economic crises of the 19th century, when the currency was devaluated for the first time and most prices reached the thousands.It was replaced in 1911 by the escudo in...
).
United Kingdom
Proposed on several occasions as a division of the
British poundThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
under the "Pound and Mil" system, the mill was occasionally used in accounting. The 1862 report from the
Select Committee on Weights and Measures noted that the Equitable Insurance Company had been keeping accounts in mills (rather than in shillings and pence) for such purposes for over 100 years. Such a unit of a thousandth of a pound would have been similar in value to the then-existing
farthingA farthing was a coin of England, Great Britain, and finally of the United Kingdom, worth one quarter of a penny, 1/960th of a pound sterling...
coin ({{frac|960}} of a pound).
Malta
Maltese liraThe lira was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was often used locally...
coinage included 2 mil, 3 mil, and 5 mil coins from 1972 to 1994, with 10 mils being equal to one cent. Prices could still be marked using mils until the country switched to the
euroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
in 2008, however these were then rounded up for accounting purposes.
Republic of Rose Island
The short-lived and unrecognized
Republic of Rose IslandThe Republic of Rose Island was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 km off the coast of the province of Forlì, Italy....
(a
micronationMicronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations...
off the Italian coast) had the mill as its official currency (
milo in the official language Esperanto).
Mandatory Palestine, Israel, Jordan
The Palestine pound, used as the currency of the British Mandate for Palestine from 1927 to 1948, was divided into 1,000 mils. Its successor currencies, the Israeli lira and the
Jordanian dinarThe dinar is the currency of Jordan. The dinar is divided into 10 dirham, 100 qirsh or 1000 fils....
, were also divided into {{frac|1000}} units, respectively named the
perutaThe Pruta was a denomination of currency in Israel prior to 1960.The pruta was introduced shortly after the establishment of the state of Israel, as the 1000th part of the Israeli pound...
and
filsThe fils is a subdivision of currency used in many Arab countries, such as Iraq. "Fils" is the singular form in Arabic, not the plural...
. The Israeli peruta lasted until 1960, and the Jordanian fils until 1992.
Hong Kong
Between 1863 and 1866 the mill coin was the lowest denomination issued by the British government in
Hong KongThe Hong Kong dollar is the currency of the jurisdiction. It is the eighth most traded currency in the world. In English, it is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively HK$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
; it was eliminated due to its unpopularity.
Cyprus
The mill was used with the
Cypriot poundThe pound, also known as the lira , was the currency of Cyprus, including the Sovereign Base Areas in Akrotiri and Dhekelia, until 31 December 2007, when the Republic of Cyprus adopted the euro...
, starting with decimalization in 1955, and lasting until 1983, when it was replaced by the
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
.
Tunisia
To this date 1, 2, and 5 millime (mills) are still in circulation, but they are no longer issued by the central bank. However larger coins such as the 10, 20, 50, and 100 millime coins are still in use and production.
Similar units
- The Egyptian pound
The Egyptian Pound is the currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 Qirsh , or 1,000 Milliemes ....
was formerly divided into 1000 milliemes, and 10 millimes equals 1 piaster.
- The Tunisian dinar
The dinar is the currency of Tunisia. It is subdivided into 1000 milim or millimes . The abbreviation DT is often used in Tunisia, although writing "dinar" after the amount is also acceptable ; the abbreviation TD is also mentioned in a few places, but is less frequently used, given the common use...
is divided into 1000 millimes (10 millimes is the smallest currently-minted coin)
- The national currencies which are divided into 1000 fils
The fils is a subdivision of currency used in many Arab countries, such as Iraq. "Fils" is the singular form in Arabic, not the plural...
are the Kuwaiti dinarThe dinar is the currency of Kuwait. It is sub-divided into 1000 fils. It is the highest-valued currency unit in the world.-History:...
(5 fils is the smallest currently-minted coin), Bahraini dinarThe dinar is the currency of Bahrain. It is divided into 1000 fils . The name dinar derives from the Roman denarius. The dinar was introduced in 1965, replacing the Gulf rupee at a rate of 10 rupees = 1 dinar. The Bahraini dinar is abbreviated .د.ب or BD...
(1 fill), Iraqi dinarThe dinar is the currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is subdivided into 1,000 fils , although inflation has rendered the fils obsolete.-History:...
(25 dinars). But as with the case of the United Arab Emirates dirhamThe dirham is the currency of the United Arab Emirates. The ISO 4217 code for the United Arab Emirates dirham is AED. Unofficial abbreviations include DH or Dhs. The dirham is subdivided into 100 ....
and the Yemeni rialThe rial or riyal is the currency of Yemen. It is technically divided into 100 fils, although coins denominated in fils have not been issued since Yemeni unification.-History:...
, they are divided into 100 subunits.
- The Omani rial
The rial is the currency of Oman. It is divided into 1000 baisa .-History:Before 1940, the Indian rupee and the Maria Theresa Thaler were the main currencies circulating in Muscat and Oman, as the state was then known, with rupees circulating on the coast and Thaler in the interior...
is divided into 1000 baisa.
- The Libyan dinar
The dinar is the currency of Libya. Its ISO 4217 code is "LYD". The dinar is subdivided into 1000 dirham . It was introduced in 1971 and replaced the pound at par. It is issued by the Central Bank of Libya, which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit...
is divided into 1000 dirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
since 1971.
- The Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
was formerly divided into 100 sen or 1000 rin. An early proposed (but not accepted) design for the 1-rin coin used "1 mill" in the Romanized text
- The Hungarian Forint
The forint is the currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér, although fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step of the post-WWII stabilization of the Hungarian economy, and the currency remained relatively stable until...
was divided into 10 Hungarian Filler, but filler are no longer in circulation.