Ukrainians are being encouraged to drop Russian imperial terms for coin sides and adopt native Ukrainian names instead. The popular expressions eagle and reshka originated during the Russian Empire and have no connection to Ukraine.
The term eagle was used for the front side of coins because Russian rubles depicted a two-headed eagle from the imperial coat of arms. Ukrainian hryvnias never featured birds. The word reshka for the back side likely stems from reshitka, meaning grid, because royal monograms on rubles resembled network patterns.
Official and folk terms
Numismatists and the National Bank of Ukraine officially use the Latin-derived words avers for the front side with the digit and revers for the back side. These professional names are easy to remember and can be used in daily life.
The website Slovotvir suggested several folk alternatives to replace imperial names. Popular choices include forehead and back, count and face, coat of arms and coin, or trident and uncle. The main goal is to abandon imperial narratives.
For the side edge of a coin, Ukrainian uses the German-derived words rant or gurt. Both terms refer to the edge section where notches are added to protect against counterfeiting.
