[drak-muh, drahk-] 
[-mee] . | 1. | a cupronickel coin and monetary unit of modern Greece, equal to 100 lepta. Abbreviation: dr., drch. |
| 2. | the principal silver coin of ancient Greece. |
| 3. | a small unit of weight in ancient Greece, approximately equivalent to the U.S. and British apothecaries' dram. |
| 4. | any of various modern weights, esp. a dram. |
, prob. equiv. to drach- base of drássesthai to grasp + -mē n. suffix (hence lit., handful)
| drach·ma (drāk'mə) n. pl. drach·mas or drach·mae (-mē)
[Latin, from Greek drakhmē, from drassesthai, drakh-, to grasp.] |