A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general ...
unit. Usually it is defined by the monetary authority, like the national
central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union,
and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...
for the currency concerned.
In formatting, the symbol can use various formattings: before, between or after the numeric amounts: , and , for example; this positioning is determined by national convention.
The symbol is not defined or listed by
ISO 4217: that only assigns three-letter codes to currencies (like for
Azerbaijani manat
The manat ( ISO code: AZN; sign: ₼; abbreviation: m) is the currency of Azerbaijan. It is subdivided into 100 ''gapiks''.
The first iteration of the currency happened in the times of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its successor, the Az ...
) and special cases like gold and silver ( and respectively) that are used as financial instruments.
Usage
When writing currency amounts, the location of the symbol varies by language. Many currencies in English-speaking countries and Latin America (except
Haiti) place it before the amount (e.g.,
R$50,00). The
Cape Verdean escudo (like the
Portuguese escudo
The Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal from May 22nd 1911 until the introduction of the euro on January 1st 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 . The word derives from the scutum shield.
Amounts in escudos were written as w ...
, to which it was formerly pegged) places its symbol in the decimal separator position (e.g. 20$00).
[ Banco de Cabo Verde.]
Moedas
." Accessed 25 Feb 2011. In many European countries such as France, the symbol is usually placed after the amount (e.g. 20,50 €).
The
decimal separator
A decimal separator is a symbol used to separate the integer part from the fractional part of a number written in decimal form (e.g., "." in 12.45). Different countries officially designate different symbols for use as the separator. The choi ...
also follows local countries' standards. For instance, the United Kingdom often uses an
interpunct as the decimal point on handwritten price stickers (e.g., £5·52), but a
full stop (e.g., £5.52) in print. Commas (e.g. €5,00) or decimal points (e.g. $50.00) are common separators used in other countries.
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
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...
, whereas the
pound and lira symbols evolved
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
from the letter
L (written until the seventeenth century in
blackletter type as
) standing for , a
Roman pound
The ancient Roman units of measurement were primarily founded on the Hellenic system, which in turn was influenced by the Egyptian system and the Mesopotamian system. The Roman units were comparatively consistent and well documented.
Length
T ...
of silver.
Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism meaningful to their adopter. For example, the euro sign
is based on , an archaic form of the Greek
epsilon, to represent Europe;
the
Indian rupee sign
The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...
is a blend of the
Latin letter
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Ital ...
'
R' with the
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
letter (
ra);
and the Russian
Ruble sign
The ruble sign, , is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. Its form is a Cyrillic letter Р with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that took ...
is based on (the
Cyrillic capital letter
'er').
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 font
A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs. A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for print ...
s and
keyboard mapping
A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a computer keyboard, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard.
is the actua ...
s already in widespread use, and
keyboard layout
A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a computer keyboard, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard.
is the actua ...
s need to be altered or shortcuts added to type the new symbol. For example, the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
was criticized for not considering how the
euro sign would need to be customized to work in different fonts.
[Westcott, K. (2009]
India seeks rupee status symbol
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009 The original design was also exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most
designing customized versions that match the 'look and feel' of the font to which it is to be added, often with reduced width.