Currency symbol

A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially in reference to amounts of money.

Symbols of the four most widely held reserve currencies

Usage

When writing currency amounts, the location of the symbol varies by language. Many currencies in the English-speaking world and Latin America place it before the amount (e.g., R$50,00). The Cape Verdean escudo (like the Portuguese escudo, to which it was formerly pegged) places its symbol in the decimal separator position (e.g. 20$00).[1] In many European countries such as France, the symbol is usually placed after the amount (e.g. 20,50 €).

The decimal separator 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

Official dimensions of the euro sign

Dimensions of the symbol in a selection of type faces

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.[2] In 2009, India launched a public competition to replace the ₨ ligature (rupees) that it shared with neighbouring countries.[3] It finalised its new currency symbol, ₹ (₹) on 15 July 2010. It is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari letter 'र' (ra).[4]

There are also other considerations, such as how the symbol is rendered on computers and typesetting. For a new symbol to be used, software to render it needs to be distributed and keyboard mappings need to be altered or shortcuts added to type the icon. For example, the European Commission was criticized for not considering how the euro symbol would need to be customized to work in different fonts.[3] 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

Some of these symbols are rare because the currency sub-unit that they represent is obsolete or obsolescent due to currency inflation.

Symbol	Uses	Notes
¤	Generic currency sign	Used when the correct symbol is not available.
؋	Afghan afghani
Ar	Malagasy ariary[5]
฿	Thai baht	Used for Bitcoin in cases where the Bitcoin Sign is unavailable
B/.	Panamanian balboa
Br	Ethiopian birr; Belarusian ruble
₿	Bitcoin	Cryptocurrency, U+20BF ₿ BITCOIN SIGN introduced in Unicode 10.0
Bs.S.	Venezuelan bolívar variant	Usually Bs.
GH₵	Ghana cedi
¢	cent, centavo, etc.	A centesimal subdivision of currencies such as the US dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Mexican peso. (See article.) See also c
c	cent etc. variant	Preferred by currencies such as the Australian, New Zealand, South African cents; the West African CFA centime; and the divisions of the euro. See also ¢
Ch.	Bhutanese chhertum	A centesimal division of the ngultrum.
₡	Costa Rican colón, symbol was also used for the Salvadoran colón.	The Salvadoran colón was discontinued in 2001 and it was replaced by the US dollar.
C$	Nicaraguan córdoba
D	Gambian dalasi
ден	Macedonian denar	Latin form: DEN
دج	Algerian dinar	Latin form: DA
.د.ب	Bahraini dinar	Latin form: BD
د.ع	Iraqi dinar	Latin form: I.Q.D.
JD	Jordanian dinar
د.ك	Kuwaiti dinar	Latin form: K.D.
ل.د	Libyan dinar	Latin form: LD
дин	Serbian dinar	Latin form: din.
د.ت	Tunisian dinar	Latin form: DT
د.م.	Moroccan dirham	Latin forms: DH; Dhs
د.إ	United Arab Emirates dirham	Latin forms DH; Dhs
Db	São Tomé and Príncipe dobra
$	Australian (A$), Bahamian (B$), Barbadian (Bds$), Belizean (BZ$), Bermudian (BD$), Brunei (B$), Canadian (CA$), Cayman Islands (CI$), East Caribbean (EC$), Fiji (FJ$), Guyanese (G$),[6] Hong Kong (HK$/元/圓), Jamaican (J$), Kiribati, Liberian (L$), Namibian (N$), New Zealand (NZ$), Singaporean (S$), Solomon Islands (SI$), Surinamese (SRD), New Taiwan (NT$/元/圓), Trinidad and Tobago (TT$), Tuvaluan (TV$), and United States (US$), dollars Argentine, Chilean (CLP$), Colombian (COP$), Cuban ($MN), Cuban convertible (CUC$), Dominican (RD$), Mexican (Mex$), and Uruguayan ($U) pesos	May appear with either one or two bars (), which share the same Unicode space. Kiribati's and Tuvalu's dollars are pegged 1:1 to the Australian dollar. Brunei's dollar is pegged 1:1 to the Singaporean dollar. See also C$, MOP$, R$, T$, WS$. Unicode: See $ for variants.
₫	Vietnamese đồng	U+20AB ₫ DONG SIGN
	Armenian dram	U+058F ֏ ARMENIAN DRAM SIGN
Esc	Cape Verdean escudo	Also the double-barred dollar sign (cifrão):
€	Euro	In addition to the members of the eurozone, the Vatican, San Marino, Monaco and Andorra have been granted issuing rights for coinage but not banknotes.
ƒ	Aruban florin (Afl.)[7] Netherlands Antillean guilder (NAƒ)
Ft	Hungarian forint
FBu	Burundian franc
FCFA	Central African CFA franc	Pegged 1:1 to West African CFA franc.
CFA	West African CFA franc	Pegged 1:1 to Central African CFA franc.
F Fr, fr	Comorian (CF), Congolese (CF, FC), Djiboutian (Fdj/DF), Guinean (FG/GFr), and Swiss (SFr) francs	Also Fr and possibly ₣. (The F with a double bar, although represented in Unicode as 'U+20A3 ₣ FRENCH FRANC SIGN', was proposed but never adopted as the symbol of the former French franc.[8][9] In some fonts, this code point is represented by Fr combined in a typographic ligature).
FRw	Rwandan franc[10]	Possibly also RF[11] and RFr[12]
G	Haitian gourde
gr	Polish grosz	A centesimal division of the złoty
₲	Paraguayan guaraní	or
h	Czech haléř	A centesimal division of the koruna
₴	Ukrainian hryvnia
₭	Lao kip	or ₭N
Kč	Czech koruna
kr	Danish krone (DKK); Norwegian krone (NOK); Swedish krona (SEK); Icelandic króna (ISK); Faroese króna	Faroese króna pegged 1:1 to Danish krone, which is in turn pegged to the Euro through the ERM.
kn	Croatian kuna
Kz	Angolan kwanza
K	Myanmar kyat; Papua New Guinean kina; Malawian kwacha; Zambian kwacha
	Georgian lari	Unicode: U+20BE ₾ LARI SIGN (may display incorrectly)
L	Albanian lek; Romanian leu; Moldovan leu; Honduran lempira	Also used as the currency symbol for the Lesotho one-loti and the Swazi one-lilangeni note. Also rarely used for the pound sign (£)
Le	Sierra Leonean leone
лв.	Bulgarian lev
E	Swazi lilangeni	Symbol based on the plural form "emalangeni" However the one-lilageni note employs the currency symbol L
lp	Croatian lipa	A centesimal division of the kuna.
₺	Turkish lira	Unicode: U+20BA ₺ TURKISH LIRA SIGN
M	Lesotho loti	Symbol based on plural form "maloti". The one-loti note employs the symbol L
₼	Azerbaijani manat	Also m. or man. Unicode: U+20BC ₼ MANAT SIGN (may display incorrectly)
KM	Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark	Cyrillic form: КМ
MT	Mozambican metical[13]	Also MTn
₥	Mill, mil, etc.	An uncommon millesimal subdivision of US dollars and other currencies. (See mill (currency).)
Nfk	Eritrean nakfa	Also Nfa[14]
₦	Nigerian naira
Nu.	Bhutanese ngultrum
UM	Mauritanian ouguiya[15]
T$	Tongan paʻanga
MOP$	Macanese pataca	Also 圓 and 元
p	Alderney, British, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Manx and Saint Helena pennies	The penny is now a centesimal division of the pound.
₱	Philippine peso	Also ₱, PHP, and P
pt	Egyptian piastre	A centesimal division of the Egyptian pound. A local symbol used in handwriting and occasionally print is represented by a stylised form of "Arabic Letter Dotless Qaf" ٯ placed above the digits. Due to inflation and lack of computer support its use is dwindling.
£	Alderney, British, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Manx and Saint Helena pounds Egyptian pound (E£)	Also ₤ and L. All, except EGP, are pegged 1:1 to GBP. EGP also abbreviated "L.E." (for French livre égyptienne), and, in Arabic, ج.م. A local symbol used in handwriting and occasionally print is represented by a stylised dotless form of "Arabic Letter Jeem" ح placed above the digits, (visually similar to حــ ). Due to lack of computer support its use is dwindling.
LL	Lebanese pound
LS	Syrian pound
P	Botswana pula
Q	Guatemalan quetzal
q	Albanian qindarkë	A centesimal division of the lek.
R	South African rand	Also sometimes Russian etc. rubles.
R$	Brazilian real	The $ is sometimes written with a double bar like a double-barred dollar sign:
﷼	Iranian rial	Unicode: U+FDFC ﷼ RIAL SIGN
ر.ع.	Omani rial
ر.ق	Qatari riyal	Latin: QR
ر.س	Saudi riyal	Latin: SR. Also ﷼
ر.ي	Yemeni rial
៛	Cambodian riel
RM	Malaysian ringgit
	Pridnestrovie ruble
₽	Russian ruble	Unicode: U+20BD ₽ RUBLE SIGN
Rf.	Maldivian rufiyaa	Also MRf., MVR and .ރ
₹	Indian rupee	Previously ₨ or Re (before 15 July 2010). Unicode: U+20B9 ₹ INDIAN RUPEE SIGN
₨	Mauritian,[16] Nepalese[17] (N₨/रू.), Pakistani and Sri Lankan (SLRs/රු) rupees	Unicode: U+20A8 ₨ RUPEE SIGN
SRe	Seychellois rupee[18]	Also SR
Rp	Indonesian rupiah
₪	Israeli new shekel
Tsh	Tanzanian shilling	Also TSh
Ksh	Kenyan shilling	Also KSh
Sh.So.	Somali shilling[19]
USh	Ugandan shilling
S/	Peruvian sol
SDR	Special drawing rights
, сом	Kyrgyzstani som	: Early in 2017 the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic approved an underlined C as new currency symbol.[20]
৳	Bangladeshi Taka	Also Tk
WS$	Samoan tālā	Symbol based on previous name "West Samoan tala". Also T and ST. See also $.
	Kazakhstani tenge	U+20B8 ₸ TENGE SIGN (may display incorrectly)
₮	Mongolian tögrög
VT	Vanuatu vatu[21]
₩	North Korean won; South Korean won
¥	Japanese yen (円/圓); Chinese Renminbi yuan (元/圆)	Used with one and two crossbars. 円 (en, lit. "circle") is usually used in Japan. 元 is also used in reference to the Macanese pataca and the Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars. Unicode: U+00A5 ¥ YEN SIGN, U+FFE5 ￥ FULLWIDTH YEN SIGN
zł	Polish złoty

Other rupee symbols

Rupee sign in other languages

Language	Sign in Unicode
Tamil	U+0BF9 ௹ TAMIL RUPEE SIGN (HTML ௹)
Gujarati	U+0AF1 ૱ GUJARATI RUPEE SIGN (HTML ૱)
Kannada	U+0CB0 ರ KANNADA LETTER RA (HTML ರ)
Sinhala	U+0DD4 රු SINHALA VOWEL SIGN KETTI PAA-PILLA (HTML ු)
North Indic	U+A838 ꠸ NORTH INDIC RUPEE MARK (HTML ꠸)
Wancho	U+1E2FF 𞋿 WANCHO NGUN SIGN (HTML 𞋿)[22]

List of historic currency symbols

Some of these symbols may not display correctly.

Symbol	Uses
₳	Argentine austral
Cz$	Brazilian cruzado
₢ Cr$	Brazilian cruzeiro
₰	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[23]
₯	Greek drachma
₠	ECU (not widely used, and now historical; replaced by the euro)
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)
₤	Lira, formerly used in Italy, San Marino and Vatican City (although not as an official symbol), and sometimes in Malta
Lm	Maltese lira
Ls	Latvian lats (1922–2013, not continuously)
Lt	Lithuanian litas (1922–2014, not continuously)
M	East German Mark der DDR (1968–1990)
ℳ	German Mark (1875–1923)
MDN	East German Mark der Deutschen Notenbank (1964–1968)
mk	Finnish markka (1860–2002)
PF	Philippine peso fuerte (1852–1901)
₧	Spanish peseta (1869–2002)
R or RD	Swedish riksdaler (1777–1873)
ℛℳ	German reichsmark (1923–1948)
	Portuguese escudo (cifrão)
Sk	Slovak koruna (1993–2008)
₷	Spesmilo (1907 – First World War) in the Esperanto movement
₶	Livre tournois, used in medieval France
𐆚	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
£2 10s 3d, £2/10/3	The United Kingdom and British Commonwealth countries, before decimalisation, used several recognised formats for amounts in pounds, shillings and pence, all for the same amount. A dash was often used to indicate a zero amount of pence or shillings, e.g. 3/- or £4/-/6d
I/.	Peruvian inti (1985-1991)
৲	Bengali rupee mark[24][25]
৹	Bengali ānā, historically used to represent 1/16 of a taka or rupee[25]
৻	Bengali gaṇḍā, historically used to represent 1/20 of an ānā (1/320 of a taka or rupee)[25]
߾	Dorome sign using the N'Ko alphabet[26]
߿	Taman sign using the N'Ko alphabet[26]
𞲰	Indic Siyaq rupee mark[27]

See also

• List of currencies
• List of circulating currencies
• Currency Symbols (Unicode block)
• International currency symbol

References

1. (in Portuguese) Banco de Cabo Verde. "Moedas Archived January 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
2. "The real. rs money" (PDF). ECB. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
3. Westcott, K. (2009) India seeks rupee status symbol, BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009
4. "Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee" (PDF). Idc.iitb.ac.in. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
5. Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
6. Bank of Guyana. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
7. Centrale Bank van Aruba. About Us – A Brief History of the Bank." Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
8. Haralambous, Yannis (2007), Fonts & Encodings, p. 78
9. Balladur, Édouard (1988), Un symbole pour le franc
10. National Bank of Rwanda. "Legal tender Archived 2011-04-03 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
11. University of British Columbia: Saunders School of Business. "Currencies of the World Archived 2011-11-29 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
12. Lonely Planet. "Rwanda." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
13. Banco de Moçambique. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
14. Forexforums.com. "Currency symbol finder Archived 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
15. Banque Centrale de Mauritanie Archived 2010-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
16. Bank of Mauritius Archived 2006-12-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
17. Nepal Rastra Bank. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
18. Central Bank of Seychelles. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
19. Central Bank of Somalia Archived 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
20. 10 February 2017, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency: KGS gets own currency symbol
21. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu. "Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation Archived 2018-08-02 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
22. Everson, Michael (2017-10-22). "N4787R2: Proposal to encode the Wancho script" (PDF).
23. Evensen, Nina Marie; Anderson, Deborah (2012-07-24). "L2/12-242: Proposal for one historic currency character, MARK SIGN" (PDF).
24. "Bengali Code Chart, Range: 0980–09FF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
25. Pandey, Anshuman (2007-05-21). "L2/07-192: Proposal to Encode the Ganda Currency Mark for Bengali in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF).
26. Everson, Michael (2015-12-19). "L2/15-338: Proposal to encode four N'Ko characters in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF).
27. Pandey, Anshuman (2015-11-05). "L2/15-121R2: Proposal to Encode Indic Siyaq Numbers" (PDF).