Finance:Currency symbol
A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit.[1] 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, after or between the numeric amounts: $2.50, 2,50€ and Template:Cifrao.
Symbols are neither defined nor listed by international standard ISO 4217, which only assigns three-letter codes.
The generic currency sign, used as a placeholder, is ¤.
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,[lower-alpha 1] the symbol is placed before the amount, as in $20.50. In most other countries, including many in Europe and Francophone Canada, the symbol is placed after the amount, as in 20,50 €. Exceptionally, the symbol for the Cape Verdean escudo (like the now-lapsed Portuguese escudo, to which it was formerly pegged) is placed in the decimal separator position, as in Template:Cifrao.[2]
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,[3] 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.[4]
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;[5] the Indian rupee sign ₹ is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari letter र (ra);[6] and the Russian Ruble sign ₽ is based on Р (the Cyrillic capital letter 'er').[7]
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.[8] 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
Template:List of currency symbols
Rupee symbols by language
| Language | Sign in Unicode | Currency |
|---|---|---|
| Tamil | U+0BF9 ௹ TAMIL RUPEE SIGN (HTML ௹) |
Indian rupee / Sri Lankan rupee |
| Gujarati | U+0AF1 ૱ GUJARATI RUPEE SIGN (HTML ૱) |
Indian rupee |
| Sinhala | රු (U+0DBB ර SINHALA LETTER RAYANNA (HTML ර)) + (U+0DD4 ු SINHALA VOWEL SIGN KETTI PAA-PILLA (HTML ු)) |
Sri Lankan rupee |
| Urdu language | U+1EC71 𞱱 INDIC SIYAQ NUMBER ONE (HTML 𞱱) |
Pakistani rupee[citation needed] |
| North Indic | U+A838 ꠸ NORTH INDIC RUPEE MARK (HTML ꠸) |
Indian rupee |
List of historical currency symbols
Some of these symbols may not display correctly.
| Symbol | Uses | Unicode | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₳ | Argentine austral (1985–1991) | U+20B3 ₳ AUSTRAL SIGN | |
| Cz$ | Brazilian cruzado (1986–1989) | ||
| ₢$ | Brazilian cruzeiro (1942–1967) | U+20A2 ₢ CRUZEIRO SIGN | |
| 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) | U+20B0 ₰ GERMAN PENNY SIGN | |
| 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[9] | U+20BB ₻ NORDIC MARK SIGN | |
| ₯ | Greek drachma | U+20AF ₯ DRACHMA SIGN | |
| ₠ | ECU (1979–1998, not widely used and now historical; replaced by the euro) | U+20A0 ₠ EURO-CURRRENCY SIGN | |
| Eº | Chilean escudo (1960–1975) | ||
| ƒ | Dutch gulden, currently used in Aruba; See Aruban Florin | U+0192 ƒ LATIN SMALL LETTER F WITH HOOK | |
| 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) | ||
| L, ₤ | Italian lira (1861–2002) | U+20A4 ₤ LIRA SIGN[lower-alpha 2] | |
| 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) | U+2133 ℳ SCRIPT CAPITAL M | |
| MDN | East German Mark der Deutschen Notenbank (1964–1968) | ||
| mk | Finnish markka (1860–2002) | ||
| ₥ | Mill | U+20A5 ₥ MILL SIGN | |
| o$s | Argentine peso oro sellado (1881–1970) | ||
| PF | Philippine peso fuerte (1852–1901) | ||
| ₡ | Salvadoran colón (1892–2001) | U+20A1 ₡ COLON SIGN | |
| ₧ | Spanish peseta (1869–2002) | U+20A7 ₧ PESETA SIGN | |
| R or RD | Swedish riksdaler (1777–1873) | ||
| ℛ︁ℳ︁ | Reichsmark (1923–1948) | U+211B ℛ SCRIPT CAPITAL R
U+2133 ℳ SCRIPT CAPITAL M | |
 |
Portuguese escudo (cifrão) | ||
| Sk | Slovak koruna (1993–2008) | ||
| ₷ | Spesmilo (1907 – First World War) in the Esperanto movement | U+20B7 ₷ SPESMILO SIGN | |
| ₶ | Livre tournois (13th century – 1795) | U+20B6 ₶ LIVRE TOURNOIS SIGN | |
| 𐆚 | As coin used during the Roman Empire and Roman Republic | U+1019A 𐆚 ROMAN AS SIGN | |
| 𐆖 | Denarius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD | U+10196 𐆖 ROMAN DENARIUS SIGN | |
| 𐆙 | Dupondius coin used during the Roman Empire and Roman Republic | U+10199 𐆙 ROMAN DUPONDIUS SIGN | |
| 𐆗 | Quinarius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD | U+10197 𐆗 ROMAN QUINARIUS SIGN | |
| 𐆘 | Sestertius coin used in Ancient Rome from 211 BC to the 3rd century AD | U+10198 𐆘 ROMAN SESTERTIUS SIGN | |
| I/. | Peruvian inti (1985-1991) | ||
| ৲ | Bangladeshi taka mark[10][11] | U+09F2 ৲ BENGALI RUPEE MARK | |
| ৹ | Bangladeshi ānā, historically used to represent 1/16 of a taka or rupee[11] | U+09F9 ৹ BENGALI CURRENCY DENOMINATOR SIXTEEN | |
| ৻ | Bangladeshi gaṇḍā, historically used to represent 1/20 of an ānā (1/320 of a taka or rupee)[11] | U+09FB ৻ BANGLA GANDA MARK | |
| ߾ | Dorome sign using the N'Ko alphabet[12] | U+07FE ߾ NKO DOROME SIGN | |
| ߿ | Taman sign using the N'Ko alphabet[12] | U+07FF ߿ NKO TAMAN SIGN | |
| 𞲰 | Indic Siyaq rupee mark[13] | U+1ECB0 𞲰 INDIC SIYAQ RUPEE SIGN |
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)
- Currency sign (generic)
Notes
References
- ↑ Williams, Marcela M.; Anderson, Richard G. (2007). "Currency Design in the United States and Abroad: Counterfeit Deterrence and Visual Accessibility". Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) 89 (5): 371–414. doi:10.20955/r.89.371-414.
- ↑ "Moedas" (in pt). Banco de Cabo Verde.. http://www.bcv.cv/vPT/Notas%20e%20Moedas/Moedas/Paginas/Moedas.aspx. "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.
- ↑ "The Origins of £sd". The Royal Mint Museum. http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/Default.aspx?PageID=14314417.
- ↑ "European Commission – Economic and Financial Affairs – How to use the euro name and symbol". Ec.europa.eu. https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_en.htm.
- ↑ "Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee". http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/events/Indian_Rupee_Symbol.pdf.
- ↑ "Currency Geeks Rejoice, Russia Has A New Symbol For The Rouble". Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-introduces-new-currency-symbol-2013-12.
- ↑ Westcott, K. (2009) India seeks rupee status symbol , BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009
- ↑ Evensen, Nina Marie; Anderson, Deborah (2012-07-24). "L2/12-242: Proposal for one historic currency character, MARK SIGN". https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12242-mark-sign.pdf.
- ↑ "Bengali Code Chart, Range: 0980–09FF". The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0980.pdf.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Pandey, Anshuman (2007-05-21). "L2/07-192: Proposal to Encode the Ganda Currency Mark for Bengali in the BMP of the UCS". https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07192r-bengali-ganda.pdf.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Everson, Michael (2015-12-19). "L2/15-338: Proposal to encode four N'Ko characters in the BMP of the UCS". https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n4706-nko-additions.pdf.
- ↑ Pandey, Anshuman (2015-11-05). "L2/15-121R2: Proposal to Encode Indic Siyaq Numbers". https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15121r2-indic-siyaq.pdf.
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