A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially
in reference to amounts of money. They typically employ the first letter or character of the
currency, sometimes with minor changes such as ligatures or overlaid vertical or horizontal
bars. Today, ISO 4217 codes are used instead of currency symbols for most official purposes,
though currency symbols may be in common use in many other contexts. Few currencies in
the world have no shorthand symbol at all. Although many former currency symbols were
rendered obsolete by the adoption of the euro, having a new and unique currency symbol – implementation
of which requires the adoption of new Unicode and type formats – has now become a status
symbol for international currencies. The European Commission considers the global recognition
of the euro sign € part of its success. In 2009, India launched a public competition
to replace the ₨ ligature it shared with neighboring countries. It finalized its new
currency symbol, ₹ on 15 July 2010. It is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari
letter "र".
Usage When writing currency amounts the location
of the symbol varies by currency. Many currencies, especially in the English-speaking world and
Latin America, place it before the amount; many others place it after the amount; and
the Cape Verdean escudo places its symbol in the decimal position.
The decimal separator also follows local countries' standards. For instance, the United Kingdom
often uses an interpunct as the decimal point on price stickers, although not in print.
Commas or decimal points are common separators used in other countries. See decimal separator
for information on international standards. Design
Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies. The dollar
and peso symbols originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish real de a ocho,
whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from an L standing for libra, a Roman pound
of silver. Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism closer
to their adopter. The added center bar in the real sign is meant to symbolize stability.
The new Indian rupee symbol, , is a stylized combination of Latin and Devanagari letters.
There are also other considerations, such as the perception of the business community
and how the symbol is rendered on computers. For a new symbol to be used, software to render
it needs to be promulgated and keyboards need to be altered or shortcuts added to type the
icon. The EU was criticized for not considering how the euro symbol would need to be customized
to work in different fonts. The original design was also exceptionally wide. These two factors
have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced
width. List of presently-circulating currency symbols
Rupee symbols List of historic currency symbols
₳ Argentine austral symbol ₢ Cr$ Brazilian cruzeiro symbol
₰ pfennig symbol of the German Mark and the German Reichsmark
DM East German Deutsche Mark symbol DM West German and united German Deutsche
Mark symbol ₯ Greek drachma symbol
₠ ECU symbol ƒ Dutch gulden symbol, currently used in
the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Fr franc symbol, used in France and other
countries; in France an F with double bar was proposed in 1988 but never adopted
Kčs Czechoslovak koruna symbol ₤ lira symbol, formerly used in Italy, San
Marino and Vatican City, and sometimes in Malta
Lm Maltese lira symbol Ls Latvian lats symbol
M East German Mark der DDR symbol ℳ German Mark symbol
MDN East German Mark der Deutschen Notenbank symbol
mk Finnish markka symbol ₧ Spanish peseta symbol
R or RD Riksdaler, used in Sweden 1777–1873 ℛℳ German reichsmark symbol
Portuguese escudo symbol s Latvian santīms - A centesimal division
of the lats Sk Slovak koruna
₷ Spesmilo in the Esperanto movement ₶ Livre tournois symbol, used in medieval
France See also
List of currencies List of circulating currencies
Currency Symbols References