The dirham (/ˈdɪər(h)əm/; Arabic: درهم إماراتي, abbreviation: د.إ in Arabic, Dh (singular) and Dhs (plural) or DH in Latin; ISO code: AED) is the official currency of the United Arab Emirates. The dirham is subdivided into 100 fils (فلس). It is pegged to the United States dollar at a constant exchange rate of approximately 3.67 AED to 1 USD. In March 2025, the UAE Central Bank announced the creation of a Dirham currency symbol, , derived from the Latin letter D crossed with two horizontal lines.

The name dirham is a loan from the Greek δραχμή (drakhmé). Due to centuries of trade and usage of the currency, dirham survived through the Ottoman Empire.

Before 1966, all the emirates that now form the UAE used the Gulf rupee, which was pegged at parity to the Indian rupee. On 6 June 1966, India decided to devalue the Gulf rupee against the Indian rupee. Not accepting the devaluation, several of the states still using the Gulf rupee adopted their own or other currencies. All the Trucial States except Abu Dhabi adopted the Qatar and Dubai riyal, which was equal to the Gulf rupee prior to the devaluation. These emirates briefly adopted the Saudi riyal during the transition from the Gulf rupee to the Qatar and Dubai riyal. Abu Dhabi used the Bahraini dinar, at a rate of 10 Gulf rupees = 1 dinar. In 1973, the UAE adopted the dirham as its currency. Abu Dhabi adopted the UAE dirham in place of the Bahraini dinar, at 1 dinar = 10 dirhams, while in the other emirates, the Qatar and Dubai riyal were exchanged at par.

In March 2025, the Central Bank of the UAE announced a currency symbol of the dirham. Its design based on two horizontal lines with curved ends (inspired by the UAE flag) superimposed on the Latin letter D. This symbol does not yet have a codepoint in Unicode for use with computer fonts.

In 1973, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 fils, as well as 1 dirham. The 1, 5, and 10 fils are struck in bronze, while the higher denominations were made in cupro-nickel. The fils coins were the same size and composition as the corresponding Qatar and Dubai dirham coins. In 1995, the five fils, 10 fils, 50 fils, and 1 dirham coins were reduced in size, with the new 50 fils being curve-equilateral-heptagonal shaped.

The value and numbers on the coins are written in Eastern Arabic numerals, and the text is in Arabic. Although the 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are rarely used in everyday life, the Central Bank of the UAE continues to produce them. However, these coins are primarily minted for collectors and commemorative purposes rather than for mass circulation. So all amounts are rounded up or down to the nearest multiples of 25 fils. The one-fils coin is a rarity and does not circulate significantly. When making a change, there is a risk of confusing the old 50-fils coin with the modern 1-dirham coin because the coins are almost the same size.

Since 1976, the Currency Board of the United Arab Emirates has minted several commemorative coins celebrating different events and rulers of the United Arab Emirates. For details, see Commemorative coins of the United Arab Emirates dirham.

By August 2006, it became publicly known that the Philippine one-peso coin is the same size as one dirham. As 1 peso is only worth eight fils, this has led to vending machine fraud in the UAE. Pakistan's 5-rupee coin, the Omani 50-baisa coin, and the Moroccan 1 dirham are also the exact size as the Emirati one dirham coin. Although 1 mm thinner, a one dirham coin has also been found in ten-cent coin rolls in Australia.