A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned.

Symbols of the four most widely held reserve currencies (dollar, euro, yen, pound)

A symbol may be positioned in various ways, according to national convention: before, between or after the numeric amounts: €2.50, 2,50€ and 2Dollar sign with two vertical lines50.

Symbols are neither defined nor listed by international standard ISO 4217, which only assigns three-letter codes.

Usage

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When writing currency amounts, the location of the symbol varies by language. For currencies in English-speaking countries and in most of Latin America, the symbol is placed before the amount, as in $20.50. In most other countries, including many in Europe, the symbol is placed after the amount, as in 20,50€. Exceptionally, the symbol for the Cape Verdean escudo (like the Portuguese escudo, to which it was formerly pegged) is placed in the decimal separator position, as in 2 50.[1]

Design

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Formal dimensions of the euro sign
 
The euro sign as implemented in a selection of typefaces

Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies. The modern dollar and peso symbols originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish dollar,[2] whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from the letter L (written until the seventeenth century in blackletter type as  ) standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver.[3]

Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism meaningful to their adopter. For example, the euro sign is based on ϵ, an archaic form of the Greek epsilon, to represent Europe;[4] the Indian rupee sign is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari letter (ra);[5] and the Russian Ruble sign is based on Р (the Cyrillic capital letter 'er').[6]

There are other considerations, such as how the symbol is rendered on computers and typesetting. For a new symbol to be used, its glyphs needs to be added to computer fonts and keyboard mappings already in widespread use, and keyboard layouts need to be altered or shortcuts added to type the new symbol. For example, the European Commission was criticized for not considering how the euro sign would need to be customized to work in different fonts.[7] The original design was also exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most type foundries designing customized versions that match the 'look and feel' of the font to which it is to be added, often with reduced width.

List of currency symbols currently in use

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Symbol Name Currency Notes Unicode
؋
AfAfs
afghani Afghan afghani Af is the singular and Afs is the plural U+060B ؋ AFGHANI SIGN
Ar ariary Malagasy ariary[8]
฿ baht Thai baht Also B when ฿ is unavailable U+0E3F ฿ THAI CURRENCY SYMBOL BAHT
B/ balboa Panamanian balboa
Br birr Ethiopian birr
bitcoin Bitcoin Cryptocurrency U+20BF BITCOIN SIGN
Bs bolívar Venezuelan bolívar
boliviano Bolivian boliviano
cedi Ghanaian cedi U+20B5 CEDI SIGN
¢ cent, centavo, etc. Fraction
A centesimal subdivision of the US dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso
U+00A2 ¢ CENT SIGN
c cent etc. variant Fraction
In currencies Australian and New Zealand dollar; the South African rand; the West African CFA centime, and divisions of the euro.
Ch chhertum Bhutanese chhertum Fraction
A centesimal division of the ngultrum
colon Costa Rican colón Also C when ₡ is unavailable U+20A1 COLON SIGN
C$ córdoba Nicaraguan córdoba[9] Also used informally for Canadian dollar; see Can$.[10]
D dalasi Gambian dalasi
ден
DEN
denar Macedonian denar
дин
DIN
dinar Serbian dinar
.د.ج
DA
dinar Algerian dinar
.د.ب
BD
dinar Bahraini dinar
.د.ع
ID
dinar Iraqi dinar
.د.أ
JD
dinar Jordanian dinar
.د.ك
KD
dinar Kuwaiti dinar
.د.ل
LD
dinar Libyan dinar
.د.ت
DT
dinar Tunisian dinar
.د.م
DH
DhDhs
dirham Moroccan dirham Dh is the singular and Dhs is the plural
.د.إ
DH
DhDhs
dirham Emirati dirham Dh is the singular and Dhs is the plural
Db dobra São Tomé and Príncipe dobra
$ dollar May appear with either one or two bars ( ); in Unicode considered as same glyph (variants). U+0024 $ DOLLAR SIGN
peso
pataca $: Macanese pataca

đ
Đ
dong Vietnamese đồng U+20AB DONG SIGN
֏ dram Armenian dram U+058F ֏ ARMENIAN DRAM SIGN
 
Esc
escudo Cape Verdean escudo Specifically the double-barred dollar sign (cifrão) As double barred: not defined in Unicode
Ξ ether ether Cryptocurrency U+039E Ξ GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI
euro Euro This eurosign is used in all scripts used in the Eurozone countries (Latin, Cyrillic, Greek) U+20AC EURO SIGN
فلس fils fils Fraction
11000 or 1100 of various Arabic country currencies; see also falus
ƒ florin Also fl when ƒ is unavailable U+0192 ƒ LATIN SMALL LETTER F WITH HOOK
Ft forint Hungarian forint
FBu franc Burundian franc
F
Fr
fr
franc The symbol , an F with a double bar, was proposed but never officially adopted as the symbol of the French franc[14][15] In some fonts, this code point is represented by Fr combined in a typographic ligature). U+20A3 FRENCH FRANC SIGN
G gourde Haitian gourde
gr grosz Polish grosz Fraction
A centesimal division of the złoty
guarani Paraguayan guaraní Also Gs when ₲ is unavailable U+20B2 GUARANI SIGN
h heller Czech heller Fraction
A centesimal division of the koruna

грн
hrn
hryvnia Ukrainian hryvnia U+20B4 HRYVNIA SIGN
kip Lao kip Also K or KN when ₭ is unavailable U+20AD KIP SIGN
koruna Czech crown
kr krone,
krona
Kz kwanza Angolan kwanza
K kina, kwacha
KKs kyat Myanmar kyat K is the singular form and Ks is the plural
lari Georgian lari U+20BE LARI SIGN
Lek lek Albanian lek Also occasionally L
L lempira Honduran lempira Also used as the currency symbol for the Lesotho and Swazi currencies as the singular form. Also used as a pound sign (see: Lebanese, Sudanese and Syrian pounds and Turkish lira)
leu
lei
leu Leu is the singular and Lei is the plural. Also sometimes L
Le leone Sierra Leonean leone
лев
lev
lev Bulgarian lev
LE lilangeni Swazi lilangeni L is the singular and E is the plural
lira Turkish lira Previously official sign was TL, still used when ₺ is unavailable U+20BA TURKISH LIRA SIGN
LM loti Lesotho loti L is the singular and M is the plural
manat Also m or man. when ₼ is unavailable U+20BC MANAT SIGN
KM mark Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark
Mt metical Mozambican metical[16] Also MTn
m mil Mil, mill, etc. Fraction
A millesimal subdivision of several currencies. As a subdivision of the US dollar the symbol ₥ is used (U+20A5 MILL SIGN)
Nfk nakfa Eritrean nakfa Also Nfa[17]
naira Nigerian naira Also N when ₦ is unavailable U+20A6 NAIRA SIGN
Nu ngultrum Bhutanese ngultrum
UM ouguiya Mauritanian ouguiya[18]
T$ paanga Tongan paʻanga
  paisa Indian paisa Fraction
Centesimal division of the Indian rupee. Before 2010, official sign was ps. Still used when   is not available.
Not in Unicode
ps paisa Pakistani and Nepalese paisas Fraction
A centesimal division of the rupee
p penny Penny sterling, and the pegged pennies of Alderney, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and Saint Helena Fraction
The centesimal subdivision of a pound sterling, known as the "New Penny" when introduced in 1971
piastre Lebanese and Syrian piastres A centesimal subdivision of the Lebanese and Syrian pounds
peso Philippine peso Also and P U+20B1 PESO SIGN
PT piastre Egyptian and Sudanese piastres Fraction
A centesimal subdivision of the Egyptian and Sudanese pounds
.ج.م
LE
pound Egyptian pound Also abbreviated £E in Latin script
.ل.ل
LL
pound Lebanese pound Also abbreviated £L in Latin script
LS pound Sudanese pound also abbreviated £Sd in Latin script.
Syrian pound also abbreviated £S, £Syr and SP in Latin script.
£ pound Pound sterling May be displayed with one or two bars, depending on typeface. U+00A3 £ POUND SIGN
SSP pound South Sudanese pound Also represented by £[19]
P pula Botswana pula
Q quetzal Guatemalan quetzal
q qintar Albanian qintar Fraction
A centesimal subdivision of the lek
R rand South African rand Also Russian and Belarusian currencies in Latin script
R$ real Brazilian real The $ is sometimes written with a double bar like a double-barred dollar sign:  

IR
RlRls
rial Iranian rial Rl is singular and Rls is plural U+FDFC RIAL SIGN
.ر.ي
YRlYRls
RlRls
rial Yemeni rial Rl is singular and Rls is plural
.ر.س
SR
SRlSRls
RlRls
riyal Saudi riyal Rl is singular and Rls is plural
.ر.ع
RO
rial Omani rial
.ر.ق
QR
rial Qatari riyal

CR
riel Cambodian riel U+17DB KHMER CURRENCY SYMBOL RIEL
RM ringgit Malaysian ringgit
  rubla Pridnestrovie rubla not in Unicode
RblRbls
R
rubel Belarusian rubel Rbl is the singular and Rbls is the plural. Also used for the Russian ruble

RblRbls
ruble Russian ruble U+20BD RUBLE SIGN
ރ
Rf
MRf
rufiyaa Maldivian rufiyaa
rupee Indian rupee Before 2010, official sign was Re/Rs; still used when ₹ is unavailable U+20B9 INDIAN RUPEE SIGN
ReRs rupee
Re is the singular form and Rs is the plural U+20A8 RUPEE SIGN
Rp rupiah Indonesian rupiah

NIS
shekel Israeli new shekel U+20AA NEW SHEQEL SIGN
TSh shilling Tanzanian shilling
KSh shilling Kenyan shilling
Sh.So. shilling Somali shilling[24]
USh shilling Ugandan shilling
S/ sol Peruvian sol

сом
som
som Kyrgyzstani som  : Kyrgyz National Bank approved the underlined С (Cyrillic Es) as currency symbol (2017)[25] U+20C0 SOM SIGN

Tk
taka Bangladeshi Taka The Unicode code character name is "Bengali Rupee sign" U+09F3 BENGALI RUPEE SIGN
WS$ tala Samoan tālā Symbol based on previous name "West Samoan tala". Also T and ST.
tenge Kazakhstani tenge Also T when ₸ is unavailable U+20B8 TENGE SIGN
tetri tetri Georgian lari Fraction
togrog Mongolian tögrög Also Tog when ₮ is unavailable U+20AE TUGRIK SIGN
VT vatu Vanuatu vatu[26]
won U+20A9 WON SIGN

 & U+FFE6 FULLWIDTH WON SIGN

¥ yuan Renminbi yuan (元 / 圆) Used with one and two crossbars, depending on font
元 is also used in reference to the Macanese pataca and the Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars
U+00A5 ¥ YEN SIGN & U+FFE5 FULLWIDTH YEN SIGN
yen Japanese yen (円 / 圓); (en, lit. "circle") is usually used in Japan
zloty Polish złoty Also zl when ł is unavailable
¤ generic Generic placeholder for any actual symbol, for example in formatting pattern "12¤00" U+00A4 ¤ CURRENCY SIGN


Rupee symbols by language

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Rupee sign in other languages (scripts)
Language Sign in Unicode Currency
Telugu U+0C30 రూ రూపాయి Indian rupee
Tamil U+0BF9 TAMIL RUPEE SIGN Indian rupee / Sri Lankan rupee
Gujarati U+0AF1 GUJARATI RUPEE SIGN Indian rupee
Kannada U+0CB0 KANNADA LETTER RA Indian rupee
Sinhala රු (U+0DBB SINHALA LETTER RAYANNA) + (U+0DD4 SINHALA VOWEL SIGN KETTI PAA-PILLA) Sri Lankan rupee
North Indic U+A838 NORTH INDIC RUPEE MARK Indian rupee
Wancho U+1E2FF 𞋿 WANCHO NGUN SIGN[27] Indian rupee

List of historical currency symbols

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Some of these symbols may not display correctly.

Symbol Uses
Argentine austral (1985–1991)
Cz$ Brazilian cruzado (1986–1989)
₢$ Brazilian cruzeiro (1942–1967)
Cr$ Brazilian cruzeiro (1970–1986)
Brazilian cruzeiro (1990–1993)
CR$ Brazilian cruzeiro real (1993–1994)
NCz$ Brazilian cruzado novo (1989–1990)
NCr$ Brazilian cruzeiro novo (1967–1970)
Rs$ Brazilian real (1747–1942)
Pfennig, a subdivision of the German Mark (1875–1923) and the German Reichsmark (1923–1948)
M East German Deutsche Mark (east) (1948–1964)
DM West German and united German Deutsche Mark (west) (1948–2001)
Nordic mark symbol used by Ludvig Holberg in Denmark and Norway in the 17th and 18th centuries[28]
Greek drachma
ECU (1979–1998, not widely used and now historical; replaced by the euro)
Chilean escudo (1960–1975)
ƒ Dutch gulden, currently used in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba
Fr Franc, used in France and other countries; in France an F with double bar (₣) was proposed in 1988 but never adopted
Kčs Czechoslovak koruna (1919–1993)
Kn Croatian kuna (1994–2023)
Italian lira (1861–2002)
Lm Maltese lira
Lp Lipa, a subdivision of the Croatian kuna (1994–2023)
Ls Latvian lats (1922–2013, not continuously)
Lt Lithuanian litas (1922–2014, not continuously)
M East German Mark der DDR (1968–1990)
ℳ︁ German Mark (1875–1923)
MDN East German Mark der Deutschen Notenbank (1964–1968)
mk Finnish markka (1860–2002)
o$s Argentine peso oro sellado (1881–1970)
PF Philippine peso fuerte (1852–1901)
Salvadoran colón (1892–2001)
Spanish peseta (1869–2002)
R or RD Swedish riksdaler (1777–1873)
ℛ︁ℳ︁ Reichsmark (1923–1948)
  Portuguese escudo (cifrão)
Sk Slovak koruna (1993–2008)
Spesmilo (1907 – First World War) in the Esperanto movement
Livre tournois (13th century – 1795)
𐆚 As coin used during the Roman Empire and Roman Republic
𐆖 Denarius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD
𐆙 Dupondius coin used during the Roman Empire and Roman Republic
𐆗 Quinarius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD
𐆘 Sestertius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD
I/. Peruvian inti (1985-1991)
Bengali rupee mark[29][30]
Bengali ānā, historically used to represent 1/16 of a taka or rupee[30]
Bengali gaṇḍā, historically used to represent 1/20 of an ānā (1/320 of a taka or rupee)[30]
߾ Dorome sign using the N'Ko alphabet[31]
߿ Taman sign using the N'Ko alphabet[31]
𞲰 Indic Siyaq rupee mark[32]

The Unicode CJK Compatibility block contains several square versions of the names of currencies in Japanese katakana. They are intended for compatibility with earlier character sets.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Moedas" (in Portuguese). Banco de Cabo Verde. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011. A mais recente emissão de moedas do BCV é a moeda comemorativa de 200$00 emitida em 2005 [BCV's most recent coin issue is the 200$00 commemorative coin issued in 2005]
  2. ^ Kinnaird, Lawrence (July 1976). "The Western Fringe of Revolution". The Western Historical Quarterly. 7 (3): 259. doi:10.2307/967081. JSTOR 967081.
  3. ^ "The Origins of £sd". The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020.
  4. ^ "European Commission – Economic and Financial Affairs – How to use the euro name and symbol". Ec.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee" (PDF). Idc.iitb.ac.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Currency Geeks Rejoice, Russia Has A New Symbol For The Rouble". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  7. ^ Westcott, K. (2009) India seeks rupee status symbol Archived 2017-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009
  8. ^ Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
  9. ^ Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 137.
  10. ^ Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 134.
  11. ^ Bank of Guyana. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  12. ^ Centrale Bank van Aruba. About Us – A Brief History of the Bank." Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
  13. ^ National Bank of Rwanda. "Legal tender Archived 2011-04-03 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  14. ^ Haralambous, Yannis (2007), Fonts & Encodings, p. 78
  15. ^ Balladur, Édouard (1988), Un symbole pour le franc
  16. ^ Banco de Moçambique. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  17. ^ Forexforums.com. "Currency symbol finder Archived 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
  18. ^ Banque Centrale de Mauritanie Archived 2010-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  19. ^ "World Bank Editorial Style Guide 2020 - page 138" (PDF). openknowledge.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  20. ^ Bank of Mauritius Archived 2006-12-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  21. ^ Nepal Rastra Bank. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
  22. ^ Central Bank of Seychelles. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  23. ^ Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Accessed 23 Nov 2022.
  24. ^ Central Bank of Somalia Archived 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
  25. ^ "KGS gets own currency symbol". Bishkek - 24.kg news agency. 10 February 2017.
  26. ^ The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu. "Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation Archived 2018-08-02 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
  27. ^ Everson, Michael (2017-10-22). "N4787R2: Proposal to encode the Wancho script" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  28. ^ Evensen, Nina Marie; Anderson, Deborah (2012-07-24). "L2/12-242: Proposal for one historic currency character, MARK SIGN" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  29. ^ "Bengali Code Chart, Range: 0980–09FF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-21. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  30. ^ a b c Pandey, Anshuman (2007-05-21). "L2/07-192: Proposal to Encode the Ganda Currency Mark for Bengali in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  31. ^ a b Everson, Michael (2015-12-19). "L2/15-338: Proposal to encode four N'Ko characters in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  32. ^ Pandey, Anshuman (2015-11-05). "L2/15-121R2: Proposal to Encode Indic Siyaq Numbers" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2018-06-09.