For less than a
buck here are two good theories about the origins of this slang word for a
dollar, which has been around for well over a century:
Animal skins were classified as "bucks" and "does." The bucks, larger and
more valuable, became a part of early American business terminology
(c.1800) and later became slang for a dollar.
Or: A marker called a "buck" was placed next to a poker player in the
heyday of the game to remind him that it was his turn to deal next. When
silver dollars were used as the markers, they took the name buck for their
own.
Paper markers called bucks may or may not have given us the word for a
dollar, but they are almost certainly responsible for the expression to
pass the buck, to evade responsibility for the deal when they passed the
buck.
The mystery about the origin of buck might be solved if we knew what was
used for the buck or marker in poker. Was it originally buckshot, or was
it a buckhorn pointed knife called a "buck" that gave its name to the
silver dollar later used for markers" Or was it simply the silver dollar
- already called a buck after the "buck" skins frontiersmen traded" No
answer seems imminent.