Currency symbol

For the typographic character representing a generic currency, see Currency sign (typography). For three-letter currency codes, see ISO 4217.

A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned.

Symbols of the four most widely held reserve currencies

A symbol may be positioned in various ways, according to national convention: before, between or after the numeric amounts: €2.50, 2,50€ and 250.

Symbols are neither defined nor listed by international standard ISO 4217, which only assigns three-letter codes.

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, the symbol is placed before the amount, as in $20.50. In most other countries, including many in Europe, the symbol is placed after the amount, as in 20,50€. Exceptionally, the symbol for the Cape Verdean escudo (like the Portuguese escudo, to which it was formerly pegged) is placed in the decimal separator position, as in 2 50.^[1]

Design

 

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.

List of currency symbols currently in use

v t e Currency symbols
Symbol	Name	Currency	Notes	Unicode
؋ Af ⁄ Afs	afghani	Afghan afghani	Af is the singular and Afs is the plural	U+060B ؋ AFGHANI SIGN
Ar	ariary	Malagasy ariary^[8]
฿	baht	Thai baht	Also B when ฿ is unavailable	U+0E3F ฿ THAI CURRENCY SYMBOL BAHT
B/	balboa	Panamanian balboa
Br	birr	Ethiopian birr
₿	bitcoin	Bitcoin	Cryptocurrency	U+20BF ₿ BITCOIN SIGN
Bs	bolívar	Venezuelan bolívar
	boliviano	Bolivian boliviano
₵	cedi	Ghanaian cedi		U+20B5 ₵ CEDI SIGN
¢	cent, centavo, etc.		Fraction A centesimal subdivision of the US dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso	U+00A2 ¢ CENT SIGN
c	cent etc. variant		Fraction In currencies Australian, New Zealand, South African dollar; the West African CFA centime, and divisions of the euro. See also: ¢
Ch	chhertum	Bhutanese chhertum	Fraction A centesimal division of the ngultrum
₡	colon	Costa Rican colón	Also C when ₡ is unavailable	U+20A1 ₡ COLON SIGN
C$	córdoba	Nicaraguan córdoba^[9]	Also used informally for Canadian dollar; see Can$.^[10]
D	dalasi	Gambian dalasi
ден DEN	denar	Macedonian denar
дин DIN	dinar	Serbian dinar
.د.ج DA	dinar	Algerian dinar
.د.ب BD	dinar	Bahraini dinar		U+062F د ARABIC LETTER DAL & U+0628 ب ARABIC LETTER BEH
.د.ع ID	dinar	Iraqi dinar		U+062F د ARABIC LETTER DAL & U+0639 ع ARABIC LETTER AIN
.د.أ JD	dinar	Jordanian dinar
.د.ك KD	dinar	Kuwaiti dinar
.د.ل LD	dinar	Libyan dinar
.د.ت DT	dinar	Tunisian dinar
.د.م DH Dh ⁄ Dhs	dirham	Moroccan dirham	Dh is the singular and Dhs is the plural
.د.إ DH Dh ⁄ Dhs	dirham	Emirati dirham	Dh is the singular and Dhs is the plural
Db	dobra	São Tomé and Príncipe dobra
$	dollar	A$: Australian dollar B$: Bahamian dollar Bds$: Barbadian dollar BZ$: Belize dollar Ber$: Bermudian dollar B$: Brunei dollar Can$, C$: Canadian dollar CI$: Cayman Islands dollar EC$: Eastern Caribbean dollar FJ$: Fijian dollar G$: Guyanese dollar^[11] HK$/元/圓: Hong Kong dollar J$: Jamaican dollar $: Kiribati dollar L$: Liberian dollar N$: Namibian dollar $NZ: New Zealand dollar S$: Singapore dollar SI$: Solomon Islands dollar SRD: Surinamese dollar NT$/元/圓: New Taiwan dollar TT$: Trinidad and Tobago dollar TV$: Tuvaluan dollar US$ or $: United States dollar	May appear with either one or two bars ( ); in Unicode considered as same glyph (variants). See also: R$, T$, and WS$	U+0024 $ DOLLAR SIGN
	peso	Arg$: Argentine peso Ch$: Chilean peso Col$: Colombian peso Cu$: Cuban peso RD$: Dominican peso Mex$: Mexican peso $U: Uruguayan peso
	pataca	$: Macanese pataca
₫ đ Đ	dong	Vietnamese đồng		U+20AB ₫ DONG SIGN
֏	dram	Armenian dram		U+058F ֏ ARMENIAN DRAM SIGN
Esc	escudo	Cape Verdean escudo	Specifically the double-barred dollar sign (cifrão)	As double barred: not defined in Unicode
Ξ	ether	ether	Cryptocurrency	U+039E Ξ GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI
€	euro	Euro	This eurosign is used in all scripts used in the Eurozone countries (Latin, Cyrillic, Greek)	U+20AC € EURO SIGN
فلس	fils	fils	Fraction 1⁄1000 or 1⁄100 of various Arabic country currencies; see also falus
ƒ	florin	Afl: Aruban florin^[12] NAƒ: Netherlands Antillean guilder	Also fl when ƒ is unavailable	U+0192 ƒ LATIN SMALL LETTER F WITH HOOK
Ft	forint	Hungarian forint
FBu	franc	Burundian franc
F Fr fr	franc	fr.CFA: Central African CFA franc FC: Comorian franc FC: Congolese franc Fdj, DF: Djiboutian franc FG, GFr: Guinean franc FRw: Rwanda franc^[13] SFr: Swiss franc fr.CFA: West African CFA franc	The symbol ₣, an F with a double bar, was proposed but never officially adopted as the symbol of the French franc^[14]^[15] In some fonts, this code point is represented by Fr combined in a typographic ligature).	U+20A3 ₣ FRENCH FRANC SIGN
G	gourde	Haitian gourde
gr	grosz	Polish grosz	Fraction A centesimal division of the złoty
₲	guarani	Paraguayan guaraní	Also Gs when ₲ is unavailable	U+20B2 ₲ GUARANI SIGN
h	heller	Czech heller	Fraction A centesimal division of the koruna
₴ грн hrn	hryvnia	Ukrainian hryvnia		U+20B4 ₴ HRYVNIA SIGN
₭	kip	Lao kip	Also K or KN when ₭ is unavailable	U+20AD ₭ KIP SIGN
Kč	koruna	Czech crown
kr	krone, krona	DKr: Danish krone NKr: Norwegian krone SKr: Swedish krona IKr: Icelandic króna kr: Faroese króna
kn	kuna	Croatian kuna	Historically Kn, between 1941 and 1945, see: Independent State of Croatia kuna
Kz	kwanza	Angolan kwanza
K	kina, kwacha	K: Papua New Guinean kina MK: Malawian kwacha ZK: Zambian kwacha
K ⁄ Ks	kyat	Myanmar kyat	K is the singular form and Ks is the plural
₾	lari	Georgian lari		U+20BE ₾ LARI SIGN
Lek	lek	Albanian lek	Also occasionally L
L	lempira	Honduran lempira	Also used as the currency symbol for the Lesotho and Swazi currencies as the singular form. Also used as a pound sign (see: Lebanese, Sudanese and Syrian pounds and Turkish lira)
leu lei	leu	Romanian leu Moldovan leu	Leu is the singular and Lei is the plural. Also sometimes L
Le	leone	Sierra Leonean leone
лев lev	lev	Bulgarian lev
L ⁄ E	lilangeni	Swazi lilangeni	L is the singular and E is the plural
lp	lipa	Croatian lipa	Fraction A centesimal division of the kuna
₺	lira	Turkish lira	Previously official sign was TL, still used when ₺ is unavailable	U+20BA ₺ TURKISH LIRA SIGN
L ⁄ M	loti	Lesotho loti	L is the singular and M is the plural
₼	manat	Azerbaijani manat	Also m or man. when ₼ is unavailable	U+20BC ₼ MANAT SIGN
KM	mark	Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark
Mt	metical	Mozambican metical^[16]	Also MTn
m	mil	Mil, mill, etc.	Fraction A millesimal subdivision of several currencies. As a subdivision of the US dollar the symbol ₥ is used (U+20A5 ₥ MILL SIGN)
	manat	Turkmenistani manat
Nfk	nakfa	Eritrean nakfa	Also Nfa^[17]
₦	naira	Nigerian naira	Also N when ₦ is unavailable	U+20A6 ₦ NAIRA SIGN
Nu	ngultrum	Bhutanese ngultrum
UM	ouguiya	Mauritanian ouguiya^[18]
T$	paanga	Tongan paʻanga
	paisa	Indian paisa	Fraction Centesimal division of the Indian rupee. Before 2010, official sign was ps. Still used when   is not available.	Not in Unicode
ps	paisa	Pakistani and Nepalese paisas	Fraction A centesimal division of the rupee
p	penny	Penny sterling, and the pegged pennies of Alderney, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and Saint Helena	Fraction The centesimal subdivision of a pound sterling, known as the "New Penny" when introduced in 1971
	piastre	Lebanese and Syrian piastres	A centesimal subdivision of the Lebanese and Syrian pounds
₱	peso	Philippine peso	Also ₱ and P	U+20B1 ₱ PESO SIGN
PT	piastre	Egyptian and Sudanese piastres	Fraction A centesimal subdivision of the Egyptian and Sudanese pounds
.ج.م LE	pound	Egyptian pound	Also abbreviated £E in Latin script
.ل.ل LL	pound	Lebanese pound	Also abbreviated £L in Latin script
LS	pound	.ج.س: Sudanese pound .ل.س: Syrian pound	Sudanese pound also abbreviated £Sd in Latin script. Syrian pound also abbreviated £S, £Syr and SP in Latin script.
£	pound	Pound sterling and the pegged Alderney, Falkland, Gibraltarian, Guernsey, Jersey, Manx and Saint Helena pounds	Can be substituted with ₤, L, Ł and Ⱡ Sterling can also be £ stg, STG or Stg	U+00A3 £ POUND SIGN
SSP	pound	South Sudanese pound	Also represented by £^[19]
P	pula	Botswana pula
Q	quetzal	Guatemalan quetzal
q	qintar	Albanian qintar	Fraction A centesimal subdivision of the lek
R	rand	South African rand	Also Russian and Belarusian currencies in Latin script
R$	real	Brazilian real	The $ is sometimes written with a double bar like a double-barred dollar sign:
﷼ IR Rl ⁄ Rls	rial	Iranian rial	Rl is singular and Rls is plural	U+FDFC ﷼ RIAL SIGN
.ر.ي YRl ⁄ YRls Rl ⁄ Rls	rial	Yemeni rial	Rl is singular and Rls is plural	U+064A ي ARABIC LETTER YEH & U+0631 ر ARABIC LETTER REH
.ر.س SR SRl ⁄ SRls Rl ⁄ Rls	riyal	Saudi riyal	Rl is singular and Rls is plural	U+0631 ر ARABIC LETTER REH & U+0633 س ARABIC LETTER SEEN
.ر.ع RO	rial	Omani rial
.ر.ق QR	rial	Qatari riyal
៛ CR	riel	Cambodian riel		U+17DB ៛ KHMER CURRENCY SYMBOL RIEL
RM	ringgit	Malaysian ringgit
	rubla	Pridnestrovie rubla		not in Unicode
Rbl ⁄ Rbls R	rubel	Belarusian rubel	Rbl is the singular and Rbls is the plural. Also used for the Russian ruble
₽ Rbl ⁄ Rbls	ruble	Russian ruble		U+20BD ₽ RUBLE SIGN
ރ Rf MRf	rufiyaa	Maldivian rufiyaa		U+0783 ރ THAANA LETTER RAA
₹	rupee	Indian rupee	Before 2010, official sign was Re/Rs; still used when ₹ is unavailable	U+20B9 ₹ INDIAN RUPEE SIGN
Re ⁄ Rs	rupee	MRe, MRs: Mauritian rupee^[20] रू, NRe, NRs: Nepalese rupee^[21] PRe, PRs: Pakistani Rupee SRe, SRs, SR: Seychellois rupee^[22] රු , SL Re, SL Rs: Sri Lankan rupee^[23]	Re is the singular form and Rs is the plural	U+20A8 ₨ RUPEE SIGN
Rp	rupiah	Indonesian rupiah
₪ NIS	shekel	Israeli new shekel		U+20AA ₪ NEW SHEQEL SIGN
TSh	shilling	Tanzanian shilling
KSh	shilling	Kenyan shilling
Sh.So.	shilling	Somali shilling^[24]
USh	shilling	Ugandan shilling
S/	sol	Peruvian sol
сом som	som	Kyrgyzstani som	: Kyrgyz National Bank approved the underlined С (Cyrillic Es) as currency symbol (2017)^[25]	U+20C0   SOM SIGN
৳ Tk	taka	Bangladeshi Taka	The Unicode code character name is "Bengali Rupee sign"	U+09F3 ৳ BENGALI RUPEE SIGN
WS$	tala	Samoan tālā	Symbol based on previous name "West Samoan tala". Also T and ST. See also: $
₸	tenge	Kazakhstani tenge	Also T when ₸ is unavailable	U+20B8 ₸ TENGE SIGN
tetri	tetri	Georgian lari	Fraction
₮	togrog	Mongolian tögrög	Also Tog when ₮ is unavailable	U+20AE ₮ TUGRIK SIGN
VT	vatu	Vanuatu vatu^[26]
₩	won	North Korean won South Korean won (원 / 圓)		U+20A9 ₩ WON SIGN
¥	yuan	Renminbi yuan (元 / 圆)	Used with one and two crossbars, depending on font 元 is also used in reference to the Macanese pataca and the Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars	U+00A5 ¥ YEN SIGN, U+FFE5 ￥ FULLWIDTH YEN SIGN
	yen	Japanese yen (円 / 圓);	円 (en, lit. "circle") is usually used in Japan
zł	zloty	Polish złoty	Also zl when ł is unavailable
¤		generic	Generic placeholder for any actual symbol, for example in formatting pattern "12¤00"	U+00A4 ¤ CURRENCY SIGN

Rupee symbols by language

Rupee sign in other languages (scripts)

Language	Sign in Unicode	Currency
Sinhala	රු (U+0DBB ර SINHALA LETTER RAYANNA) + (U+0DD4 ු SINHALA VOWEL SIGN KETTI PAA-PILLA)	Sri Lankan rupee
Tamil	U+0BF9 ௹ TAMIL RUPEE SIGN	Sri Lankan rupee
Gujarati	U+0AF1 ૱ GUJARATI RUPEE SIGN
Kannada	U+0CB0 ರ KANNADA LETTER RA
North Indic	U+A838 ꠸ NORTH INDIC RUPEE MARK
Wancho	U+1E2FF 𞋿 WANCHO NGUN SIGN^[27]

List of historic currency symbols

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 (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)
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^[28]
₯	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)
o$s	Argentine peso oro sellado (1881–1970)
PF	Philippine peso fuerte (1852–1901)
₡	Salvadoran colón (1892–2001)
₧	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^[29]^[30]
৹	Bengali ānā, historically used to represent 1/16 of a taka or rupee^[30]
৻	Bengali gaṇḍā, historically used to represent 1/20 of an ānā (1/320 of a taka or rupee)^[30]
߾	Dorome sign using the N'Ko alphabet^[31]
߿	Taman sign using the N'Ko alphabet^[31]
𞲰	Indic Siyaq rupee mark^[32]

See also

•  Money portal

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

References

1. (in Portuguese). Banco de Cabo Verde. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011. 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]
2. Kinnaird, Lawrence (July 1976). "The Western Fringe of Revolution". The Western Historical Quarterly. 7 (3): 259. doi:10.2307/967081. JSTOR 967081.
3. . The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020.
4. "European Commission – Economic and Financial Affairs – How to use the euro name and symbol". Ec.europa.eu. from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
5. "Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee" (PDF). Idc.iitb.ac.in. (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
6. "Currency Geeks Rejoice, Russia Has A New Symbol For The Rouble". Business Insider. from the original on 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
7. Westcott, K. (2009) India seeks rupee status symbol 2017-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009
8. Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
9. Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 137.
10. Editorial Style Guide (PDF). World Bank Publications. p. 134.
11. Bank of Guyana. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
12. Centrale Bank van Aruba. About Us – A Brief History of the Bank." Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
13. National Bank of Rwanda. "Legal tender 2011-04-03 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
14. Haralambous, Yannis (2007), Fonts & Encodings, p. 78
15. Balladur, Édouard (1988), Un symbole pour le franc
16. Banco de Moçambique. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
17. Forexforums.com. "Currency symbol finder 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
18. Banque Centrale de Mauritanie 2010-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
19. "World Bank Editorial Style Guide 2020 - page 138" (PDF). openknowledge.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
20. Bank of Mauritius 2006-12-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
21. Nepal Rastra Bank. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
22. Central Bank of Seychelles. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
23. Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Accessed 23 Nov 2022.
24. Central Bank of Somalia 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
25. "KGS gets own currency symbol". Bishkek - 24.kg news agency. 10 February 2017.
26. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu. "Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation 2018-08-02 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
27. Everson, Michael (2017-10-22). "N4787R2: Proposal to encode the Wancho script" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
28. Evensen, Nina Marie; Anderson, Deborah (2012-07-24). "L2/12-242: Proposal for one historic currency character, MARK SIGN" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
29. "Bengali Code Chart, Range: 0980–09FF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-21. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
30. Pandey, Anshuman (2007-05-21). "L2/07-192: Proposal to Encode the Ganda Currency Mark for Bengali in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
31. Everson, Michael (2015-12-19). "L2/15-338: Proposal to encode four N'Ko characters in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
32. Pandey, Anshuman (2015-11-05). "L2/15-121R2: Proposal to Encode Indic Siyaq Numbers" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2018-06-09.