The kopeck or kopek[a] is or was a coin or a currency unit of a number of countries in Eastern Europe closely associated with the economy of Russia. It is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system; 100 kopeks are worth 1 ruble or 1 hryvnia.
The name of the coin of Azerbaijan comes from the word kopeck – gapik, (Azerbaijani: qəpik, 1⁄100manat).
No country's kopeck is currently subdivided, although the denga (½ kopeck) and polushka (¼ kopeck) were minted off and on for centuries, until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in February 1917 (O.S.) / March 1917 (N.S.).
Origins
The word kopek, kopeck, copeck, or kopeyka (in Russian: копейка, kopeyka) is a diminutive form of the Russian kop'yo (копьё)—a spear[citation needed]. The first kopek coins, minted at Novgorod and Pskov from about 1534 onwards, show a horseman with a spear. From the 1540s on, the horseman bore a crown; doubtless the intention was to represent Ivan the Terrible, the grand prince of all Russia until 1547, and tsar thereafter. Subsequent minting of the coin, starting in the 18th century, instead bore Saint Georgestriking down a serpent with spear, hence kopek from kop'yo (копьё).