The word escudo literally means shield; like other coins with similar names, it depicts the coat of arms of the state.

During World War II, escudos were heavily sought after by Nazi Germany, through Swiss banks, as foreign currency to make purchases to Portugal and other neutral nations.

With the entry of Portugal in the Eurozone, the conversion rate to the euro was set at 200.482 = €1.

[2] The escudo was used in the Portuguese mainland, the Azores and Madeira, with no distinction of coins or banknotes.

In Portugal's African colonies, the escudo was generally used up to independence, in the form of Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Banco de Angola banknotes (rather than those of the Bank of Portugal used in Portugal proper), with Portuguese and in some cases local coins circulating alongside: Of the above, only Cape Verde continues to use the escudo.

Also, people still referred to escudos at the time of the changeover in multiples of the older currency real (plural réis).

Many people called the 2+1⁄2 coins dois e quinhentos (two and five-hundreds), referring to the correspondence 2+1⁄2 = 2500 réis.

Banknotes in circulation at the time of the changeover to the euro were: The last series of escudo banknotes could be returned to the central bank Banco de Portugal and converted to euros until 28 February 2022.

Escudo banknotes celebrated notable figures from the history of Portugal.

The final banknote series featured the Age of Discovery, with João de Barros, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, and Henry the Navigator.

The expression remained in usage after the advent of the euro, albeit less often, meaning €5, roughly worth 1,000.