African dismissing farthing and cent, backing African currency (5)
I believe the answer is:
naira
'african' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for naira that I've seen before include "African settler" , "Nigerian capital" , "African means" , "African rhino" , "piece of Nigerian money" .)