Currency symbol

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, 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.

Formal dimensions of the euro sign

The euro sign as implemented in a selection of typefaces

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,[2] whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from the letter L (written until the seventeenth century in blackletter type as ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {L}}}$) standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver.[3]

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;[4] the Indian rupee sign ₹ is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari letter र (ra);[5] and the Russian Ruble sign ₽ is based on Р (the Cyrillic capital letter 'er').[6]

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.[7] 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.

Some of these symbols may not display correctly.

Symbol	Uses
₳	Argentine austral (1985–1991)
Cz$	Brazilian cruzado (1986–1989)
₢$	Brazilian cruzeiro (1942–1967)
Cr$	Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986)
NCz$	Brazilian cruzado novo (1989–1990)
Rs$	Brazilian real (1747–1942)
₰	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[27]
₯	Greek drachma
₠	ECU (not widely used, and now historical; replaced by the euro)
Eº	Chilean escudo (1960–1975)
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)
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)
₡	Salvadoran colón (–2001)
₧	Spanish peseta (1869–2002)
R or RD	Swedish riksdaler (1777–1873)
ℛℳ	Reichsmark (1923–1948)
	Portuguese escudo (cifrão)
Sk	Slovak koruna (1993–2008)
₷	Spesmilo (1907 – First World War) in the Esperanto movement
₶	Livre tournois (13th century – 1795)
𐆚	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[28][29]
৹	Bengali ānā, historically used to represent 1/16 of a taka or rupee[29]
৻	Bengali gaṇḍā, historically used to represent 1/20 of an ānā (1/320 of a taka or rupee)[29]
߾	Dorome sign using the N'Ko alphabet[30]
߿	Taman sign using the N'Ko alphabet[30]
𞲰	Indic Siyaq rupee mark[31]

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