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“money” in Latin

The English word money itself goes back to Latin monēta.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

money
pecunia (opposed to other property; then any sum of money, never = a single coin; ☞ hence it can be connected only with such adjectives as relate to magnitude; as, magna, parva, grandis, ingens, etc., never with such as relate to unity, as, multa, pauca, etc.): argentum, aes (silver or copper coin; and hence, general term for money: Vid :, for argentum, Ter., Andr., 3, 3, 15, etc.: Liv., 30, 39, extr.; for aes, Ter., Phorm., 3, 2, 26: Cic., Att., 2, 1, 10: Liv., 4, 60, 6; 5, 12, 1. ☞ But argentum signatum and aes signatum only in opposed to argentum, or aes infectum, or factum; Vid: Cic., Varr., 5, 25, 63: Liv., 34, 6, 14, and 34, 52, 4): nummus (a single piece of money, a coin ; ☞ for this only unclassical writers and poets say moneta): pretium (a price in money): Illyrian money, pecunia Illyriorum signo signata: great and small money, nummi omnis notae: good money, nummi probi: bad money, nummi adulterini (☞ not moneta adulterina): of or belonging to money, pecuniarius; nummarius; argentarius: that may be had for money, venalis; pretio venalis: for money, pretio; pretio motus, adductus (induced by a price or reward): fur little, much money, parvo, magno pretio: for money and good words, pretio et precibus: my little bit of money, nummuli mei: a considerable sum of money, aliquantum nummorum: ready money, pecunia praesens, numerata; nummi praesentes, numerati (Cic.); also simply numeratum (Cic.); aurum, argentum, praesentarium (Plaut.): to buy anything for ready money, praesentibus nummis emere aliquid (Sen.): to sell for ready money, solutum aliquid dare (Ulp.); or vendere [Vid: CASH]: to hate plenty of money, in multis suis pecuniis esse, bene nummatum esse, pecunia abundare, opibus or divitiis florere: to make money by anything, pecuniam facere ex re (Nep., Cim., 1, 3): a making of money, pecuniae quaestus; pecuniae via (way and method of making money): the value of money, potestas pecuniarum (Gai., Dig., 13, 3, 4): to turn a thing into money, vendere aliquid (to sell): to take money (as a bribe), pecuniam accipere (opposed to pecuniae resistere): to turn everything into money, omnia in pecuniam redigere (Quint., Decl., 269): to furnish money for anything, pecunias expedire (the proper word; Vid: Bremi, Suet., Caes., 4): to furnish anyone with money, pecuniam alicui curare: to furnish one with money from the public treasury, sumtum alicui dare de publico (Cic., De Invent., 2, 29, init.): to many for money, dote moved (Ter., Heaut., 5, 1, 66): he did not marry for money, indotatum duxit (after Ter., Ad., 3, 2, 47): money makes the man, in pretio pretium nunc est; dat census honores, census amicitias, pauper ubique jacet (Ov., Fast. 1, 217, sq.): pecunia omnium dignitatem exaequat (Cic., Att., 4, 15, 7): want of money, inopia pecunias or rei pecuniariae, inopia argentio or argentaria, inopia nummaria; caritas nummorum (scarcity of money): difficultas nummaria or rei nummariae: angustiae pecuniae (distressing position in respect of money): public want (or scarcity) of money, angustiae pecuniae publicae; angustiae aerarii (of the treasury): to be in want of money, de pecunia laborare; in summa difficultate nummaria esse: times in which there is a general want of money, tempora difficillima solutionis (Cic., Caecin., 4, 11): when there was a great want of money, cum creditae pecuniae non solverentur (Caes., B.C., 3, 1, init.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for money?
The usual Latin words for “money” are pecūnia, argentum, aes; also nummus, pretium, parvus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.