The won sign , is a
currency symbol
A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by the monetary authority, like the national central bank for the currency concerned.
In formatting, the symbol can use various format ...
. It represents the
South Korean won
The Korean Republic won, unofficially the South Korean won ( Symbol: ₩; Code: KRW; Korean: 대한민국 원) is the official currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is no longer used f ...
, the
North Korean won
The Korean People's won, sometimes known as the North Korean won (Symbol: ₩; Code: KPW; Korean: ) or Democratic People's Republic of Korea won (Korean: ), is the official currency of North Korea. It is subdivided into 100 ''chon''. The curre ...
and, unofficially, the old
Korean won
The Korean won ( ko, 원 (圓), ) or Korean Empire won (Korean: 대한제국 원), was the official currency of the Korean Empire between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 ''jeon'' (; ko, 전 (錢), ).
Etymology
Won is a c ...
.
Appearance
Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the center. Some fonts display the won sign with two horizontal lines, and others with only one horizontal line. Both forms are used when handwritten.
Encoding
The
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
code point is : this is valid for either appearance. Additionally, there is a full width character at .
Microsoft Windows
In
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
code page 949, the position (
backslash
The backslash is a typographical mark used mainly in computing and mathematics. It is the mirror image of the common slash . It is a relatively recent mark, first documented in the 1930s.
History
, efforts to identify either the origin o ...
) is also used for the won sign.
In Korean versions of Windows, many fonts (including system fonts) display the backslash character as the won sign. This also applies to the
directory separator character (for example, ) and the escape character(
₩n). Most Korean keyboards input when the won sign key is pressed, so the Unicode letters are rarely used.
The same issue (of dual use of a code point) occurs with the
yen sign
The yen and yuan sign, ¥, is a currency sign used for the Japanese yen and the Renminbi, Chinese yuan currency, currencies when writing in Latin scripts. This monetary symbol resembles a Latin letter Y with a single or double horizontal stroke. ...
in Japanese versions of Windows.
MacOS
In
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, the won sign key inputs only when in
Hangul
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...
input mode.
Fictional use
In fiction, it is used for the woolong, a fictional currency in anime by
Shinichirō Watanabe
is a Japanese anime television and film director, best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series '' Cowboy Bebop'' and ''Samurai Champloo''. An auteur of the industry, Watanabe's work is characterized ...
(''
Cowboy Bebop'', ''
Space Dandy
, is a 2014 Japanese comic science fiction anime television series produced by Bones. The series follows the misadventures of Dandy, an alien hunter who is "a dandy guy in space", in search for undiscovered and rare aliens with his robot assi ...
'' and ''
Carole & Tuesday
is a 24-episode anime television series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. It was animated by studio Bones, in commemoration of the studio's 20th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of record label FlyingDog. It aired from April 11 to October ...
''), and for "Kinzcash", the currency of the online game ''
Webkinz
Webkinz is a stuffed animal franchise by the Canadian toy company Ganz, consisting of stuffed animals that have online counterparts in the games "Webkinz Classic" and "Webkinz Next". It was originally released by Ganz on April 29, 2005.
Each W ...
''.
References
See also
*
Pound sign#Double dash style
{{Currency signs
Currency symbols