The plural form of Romania’s currency unit, the leu, is lei.
Romania introduced the leu in 1867, and the currency remains the country’s official monetary unit. In Romanian, “leu” means “lion,” while “lei” is its plural form. The currency uses the ISO 4217 code RON, which refers to the current Romanian leu introduced after a 2005 redenomination.
Romania redenominated the currency on 1 July 2005, when 10,000 old lei became 1 new leu. The change removed four zeros from prices and banknotes while preserving the currency’s traditional name. The National Bank of Romania issues the leu.
The spelling “lei” is not an alternative currency name but the normal Romanian plural. It can refer to more than one leu in prices and descriptions. Romania’s leu should also be distinguished from Moldova’s leu, which is a separate currency with the ISO code MDL.