The dime is the smallest, thinnest coin we use today. The name of the coin sounded the same as it does today, but the spelling was "disme" because the word is based on the Latin word "decimus," meaning "one tenth." The French used the word "disme" when they came up with the idea of money divided into ten parts in the 1500s, although they hadn't implemented the idea.

Lady Liberty reigned on the dime in different forms for many years. Usually just her head was shown, but her full body, seated on a rock, was used during the 1800s. She was shown with wings on her head from 1916 to 1945, often called the Mercury dime, to symbolize freedom of thought.

The Roosevelt dime began life in 1946 and is often considered untouchable because of FDR's impact on American life after the Great Depression and into WWII.