The Ukrainian currency: what is it called and where does the name come from?

Ukraine’s official national currency is called the hryvnia. Its international letter code is UAH and its graphic symbol is ₴.

A country’s own monetary unit is as much a symbol of the state as its flag, coat of arms, or anthem. After Ukraine restored its independence in 1991, there was a need for its own currency. A monetary reform in any country is a lengthy process, so the hryvnia was introduced in 1996.

Why did Ukraine choose the hryvnia as its national currency? The name “hryvnia” comes from the word “hryvna,” which in the times of Kyivan Rus referred to a neck ornament in the form of a metal (often gold, decorated with precious stones) torc that signified the high status of its owner. The word hryvna itself derives from an ancient Indo-European (Old Indian) root common to Indo-European languages, griva, meaning “neck” or “nape.” In modern Ukrainian, hryva refers to the long hair on the neck and spine of some animals, primarily a horse’s mane.

As early as the 8th–9th centuries, the hryvna was used in trade as a unit of weight and accounting. Later, the term hryvna came to denote a unit of weight and payment equivalent to a silver or gold ingot. In the 12th–14th centuries, money in Kyivan Rus was represented mainly by silver ingots called “hryvnias.” They were hexagonal in shape, resembling an elongated diamond, and weighed about 150 grams. Incidentally, a hexagonal hryvna ingot is depicted on all modern Ukrainian banknotes.

Thus, the hryvna has long been a symbol of wealth and at the same time a measure of value. Later, when Ukraine was part of various states, it did not have its own currency. Interestingly, even during the times of the Russian Empire and the USSR, Ukraine used its own term for Russian and Soviet money: in Russian they were called rubles, while in Ukrainian they were known as karbovantsi (from the verb karbuvaty — “to engrave” or “to mint,” that is, to carve or stamp something onto a hard surface, especially metal).

During the period of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (1917–1921), it was decided to restore the historical name for the national currency. In the orthography of that time, the word already had the form hryvnia. This choice emphasized the continuity of the UPR with the ancient state of Rus and its aspiration to have its own economic system. The name hryvnia thus combines symbolism and continuity of tradition: from a piece of jewelry and an ingot in Kyivan Rus to the modern national currency of Ukraine. It is not just a unit of money, but also a historical marker of Ukrainian statehood.