There is some confusion over the way the word euro should be capitalized, or not, within a sentence. It can be a confusing concept to native and non-native English speakers alike. In general, the way you write the word “euro” or “Euro” depends on the context of where the word is being used.
Is Euro Capitalized?
The official spelling of EUR as a currency unit within the English language is “euro” with “e” as a lower case letter. It is, however, a common practice to spell it with an upper case “E”, as other currencies are capitalized. This makes sense to differentiate the word Euro as a currency from the word euro which describes things that are European. The use of the word euro in this way is common in advertising as people see European things are cool or interesting. A good example of this is “try our new slick hair gel, for fantastic euro styling!”. In this case, the word euro is being used to describe the cool, European aspect of the product.
Overall, the differences in the capitalization of the word are very subtle. Even most English speakers will not know the correct answer when it comes to the capitalization of the word euro. Many languages throughout Europe, that are not English, will have different official spellings for the name of the euro currency unit. Generally, when used within a sentence you can expect to not capitalize the word, however, there is much debate. It seems there is not really an official consensus on the word.
When referring to the Euro as a currency it depends on how you use it. You might say the Euro dropped in value over the weekend. This refers to the Euro as a proper noun and it will need to be capitalized. Otherwise, you might use the word in a sentence such as “I spent 5 euros on some ice cream”, where it is not used as a proper noun and therefore does not need to be capitalized in this instance. This seems to be the proper etiquette when referring to currencies of all kinds, as saying “I spent 5 dollars” would also not be capitalized in a sentence.
This can all be a confusing concept to a non-native speaker of English, but these grammatical subtleties may be important when engaging in important business conversations, as using the capitalization correctly can bring a sense of confidence to your business English.