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The pound sign (£) is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and its associated Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England. The same symbol is used for other currencies called pound, such as the Egyptian and Syrian pounds.
The pound (sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, [ 4 ][ c ] and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, [ 7 ] often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. [ 4 ] Sterling is the world's oldest currency in continuous use since its inception. [ 8 ]
The English word "pound" derives from the Latin expression lībra pondō, in which lībra is a noun meaning 'pound' and pondō is an adverb meaning 'by weight'. 1 2 The currency's symbol is '£', a stylised form of the blackletter 'L' ( ) (from libra), crossed to indicate abbreviation. [ 3 ]
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. 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.
The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO 4217 currency code: GBP) is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. The Bank of England has a legal monopoly of banknote issuance in England and Wales.
Prior to decimalisation in 1971, there were 12 pence (written as 12d) in a shilling (written as 1s or 1/-) and 20 shillings in a pound, written as £1 (occasionally "L" was used instead of the pound sign, £). There were therefore 240 pence in a pound. For example, 2 pounds 14 shillings and 5 pence could have been written as £2 14s 5d or £2/14/5
The symbol # is known variously in English-speaking regions as the number sign, [1] hash, [2] or pound sign. [3] The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes including the designation of an ordinal number and as a ligatured abbreviation for pounds avoirdupois – having been derived from the now-rare ℔.
The symbol "£", for the pound, is derived from the first letter of the Latin word for pound, libra. [ 47 ] A similar pre-decimal system operated in France, also based on the Roman currency , consisting of the livre (L), sol or sou (s) and denier (d).