Currency symbol
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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.
A symbol may be positioned in various ways, according to national convention: before, between or after the numeric amounts: €2.50, 2,50€ and 250.
Symbols are neither defined nor listed by international standard ISO 4217, which only assigns three-letter codes.
Usage
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 250.[1]
Design
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 र (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
Symbol | Name | Currency | Notes | Unicode |
---|---|---|---|---|
؋ Af ⁄ Afs |
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 Dh ⁄ Dhs |
dirham | Moroccan dirham | Dh is the singular and Dhs is the plural | |
.د.إ DH Dh ⁄ Dhs |
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 1⁄1000 or 1⁄100 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 |
Kč | koruna | Czech crown | ||
kr | krone, krona |
|
||
Kz | kwanza | Angolan kwanza | ||
K | kina, kwacha | |||
K ⁄ Ks | 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 | ||
L ⁄ E | 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 |
L ⁄ M | 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 Rl ⁄ Rls |
rial | Iranian rial | Rl is singular and Rls is plural | U+FDFC ﷼ RIAL SIGN |
.ر.ي YRl ⁄ YRls Rl ⁄ Rls |
rial | Yemeni rial | Rl is singular and Rls is plural | |
.ر.س SR SRl ⁄ SRls Rl ⁄ Rls |
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 | ||
Rbl ⁄ Rbls R |
rubel | Belarusian rubel | Rbl is the singular and Rbls is the plural. Also used for the Russian ruble | |
₽ Rbl ⁄ Rbls |
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 |
Re ⁄ Rs | 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); | 円 (en, lit. "circle") is usually used in Japan | ||
zł | 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
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 ರ KANNADA LETTER RA | Indian rupee |
Sinhala | රු (U+0DBB ර 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
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) |
Eº | 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] |
৹ | 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
- List of currencies
- List of circulating currencies
- Currency Symbols (Unicode block)
- International currency symbol
References
- ^ "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] - ^ Kinnaird, Lawrence (July 1976). "The Western Fringe of Revolution". The Western Historical Quarterly. 7 (3): 259. doi:10.2307/967081. JSTOR 967081.
- ^ "The Origins of £sd". The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee" (PDF). Idc.iitb.ac.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Westcott, K. (2009) India seeks rupee status symbol Archived 2017-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009
- ^ Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
- ^ Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 137.
- ^ Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 134.
- ^ Bank of Guyana. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Centrale Bank van Aruba. About Us – A Brief History of the Bank." Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
- ^ National Bank of Rwanda. "Legal tender Archived 2011-04-03 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Haralambous, Yannis (2007), Fonts & Encodings, p. 78
- ^ Balladur, Édouard (1988), Un symbole pour le franc
- ^ Banco de Moçambique. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Forexforums.com. "Currency symbol finder Archived 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
- ^ Banque Centrale de Mauritanie Archived 2010-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ "World Bank Editorial Style Guide 2020 - page 138" (PDF). openknowledge.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
- ^ Bank of Mauritius Archived 2006-12-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Nepal Rastra Bank. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
- ^ Central Bank of Seychelles. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Accessed 23 Nov 2022.
- ^ Central Bank of Somalia Archived 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
- ^ "KGS gets own currency symbol". Bishkek - 24.kg news agency. 10 February 2017.
- ^ The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu. "Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation Archived 2018-08-02 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Bengali Code Chart, Range: 0980–09FF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-21. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.