Currency symbols of different countries. Indication of money by signs
| Symbol | Name | Alt code |
| ¤ | Any currency symbol | Alt+0164; 00A4, Alt+X |
| $ | US Dollar (American Samoa, British Indian Ocean Territory, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (US), Haiti, Guam, US Minor Pacific Outlying Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, United States of America, Turks and Caicos Islands) | Alt+36; Entered from the keyboard; 0024, Alt+X |
| ¢ | Cent - American currency | Alt+0162; 00A2, Alt+X |
| £ | Pound sterling (United Kingdom Great Britain) | Alt+0163; 00A3, Alt+X |
| ¥ | Yen (Japan) | Alt+0165; 00A5, Alt+X |
| ৲ | Bengal rupee (label) | 09F2, Alt+X |
| ৳ | Bengal Rupee (symbol) | 09F3, Alt+X |
| ฿ | Bath (Thailand) | 0E3F, Alt+X |
| ៛ | Rial (Cambodia) | 17DB, Alt+X |
| ₠ | Euro currency symbol | 20A0, Alt+X |
| ₡ | Colon (Costa Rica, El Salvador) | 20A1, Alt+X |
| ₢ | Brazilian cruzeiro | 20A2, Alt+X |
| ₣ | French franc (Andorra, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Monaco, Reunion, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, France, French Guiana, French Southern Territories) | 20A3, Alt+X |
| ₤ | Italian Lira (Vatican City, Italy, San Marino) | 20A4, Alt+X |
| ₥ | Miles (thousandth of a dollar) | 20A5, Alt+X |
| ₦ | Naira (Nigeria) | 20A6, Alt+X |
| ₧ | Spanish peseta (Andorra, Spain) | 20A7, Alt+X |
| ₨ | Indian Rupee (Bhutan, India) | 20A8, Alt+X |
| ₩ | Korean won | 20A9, Alt+X |
| ₪ | Israeli shekel | 20AA, Alt+X |
| ₫ | Dong (Vietnam) | 20AB, Alt+X |
| € | Euro (European Union Member States) | Alt+0128; 20AC, Alt+X |
| ₭ | Laotian kip | 20AD, Alt+X |
| ₮ | Mongolian tugrik | 20AE, Alt+X |
| ₯ | Drachma (Greece) | 20AF, Alt+X |
| ₰ | German penny | 20B0, Alt+X |
| ₱ | Philippine Peso | 20B1, Alt+X |
| ﷼ | Rial | FDFC, Alt+X |
| ﹩ | Dollar (small symbol) | FE69, Alt+X |
| ＄ | Dollar (full-width character) | FF04, Alt+X |
| ￠ | Cent (full-width character) | FFE0, Alt+X |
| ￡ | Pound (full-width character) | FFE1, Alt+X |
| ￥ | Yen (full width symbol) | FFE5, Alt+X |
| ￦ | Won (full-width character) | FFE6, Alt+X |
Currency signs
Currency signs are separated when typed on paper by a semicircular emboss, and when typed for a website - by a non-breaking space (Ctrl + Shift + Space or Alt + 0160).
Euro sign
Everything about the Euro symbol
In November 2006, the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a competition to create a drawing of the tenge symbol. Many works were submitted for consideration, and already on March 29, 2007, a new symbol of the national currency was selected and approved. But after the publication of the results of the competition, a scandal erupted, the reason for this was the following fact - the new tenge symbol is completely identical to the symbol of the Japanese postal service, which, in turn, has been used for more than 120 years.
It is also worth paying attention to the “Price List” typeface, which was developed by the Satori studio in 2009.
Download the headset “Price List”
The “price list” is supplied in two styles – regular and italic. The font contains only numbers, some punctuation marks, some arithmetic symbols, and currency symbols. In addition to the Kazakh tenge symbol, the font also contains symbols for the following world currencies:
- U.S. dollar;
- Euro;
- Russian ruble;
- Ukrainian hryvnia;
- Mongolian tugrik;
- Japanese yen;
- South Korean won;
- Thai baht;
- Nigerian naira;
- British pound sterling.
The hryvnia symbol appears before us in the form of a handwritten Cyrillic letter "G" with two horizontal lines that are endowed with a certain semantic load - a feeling of stability and confidence. This technique has already been used in signs of other monetary currencies more than once - this is both the euro sign and the yen sign.
The official abbreviation of hryvnia, in both Russian and Ukrainian, is “grn.”.
Any other variations of the abbreviation of hryvnia (“gr.”, “grvn.”, “grv.”) are considered incorrect.
The following point must be taken into account: the hryvnia sign may not be displayed in all browsers.
Belarusian ruble sign
Abbreviations - "R." And "rub.".
The designation of world currencies is used to simplify the type of economic information. Each currency has its own three-digit code, where the first two letters indicate the country, and the last third letter is the name of the currency itself (dollar - D, franc - F, pound - P).
This procedure for three-digit designation of currencies is regulated by a special standard ISO 4217. The International Organization for Standardization in 1978 recommended that all countries use three-letter and three-digit currency codes.
Symbol of any currency:
The main purpose of this use of currency designations was aimed at international documentation in international agreements, in which it was more effective to use abbreviated names of currency codes to identify their names, since the names of some currencies are quite similar (US dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, etc.).
Of course, each country has adapted the ISO 4217 standard to suit its needs. For example, Russia has its own All-Russian Classifier of Currencies. Only the European Union uses the ISO 4217 standard directly.
The designation of currencies, according to the ISO 4217 standard, has been improved several times: digital codes have been introduced, and data on fractional monetary units has been introduced.
In order to facilitate the use of the ISO 4217 standard, the designation of currencies was displayed in special tables - lists that indicate the name of the currency, the place of circulation of the currency, a three-letter alphabetic code, a three-digit alphabetic code, and decimal places for monetary units.
It is clear that some currencies go out of circulation, so they are marked in additions to the ISO 4217 standard with an explanation of the reasons for such changes, and the dates of entry and exit of information.
All changes in currency designations are officially published on its website by a special agency - SIX Interbank Clearing in English and French.
The most interesting thing is that during the use of the designation of world currencies since 1978, practically all available currency signs were used, therefore, for new currencies, they came up with the idea of entering the letter N, from the English word - new.
Currency codes were needed to automate and unify the designation of currencies, so each country develops them independently, taking into account the ISO 4217 standard.
Letter designation of world currencies
| Currency name | Currency code | |
| Australian dollar | AUD | 036 |
| Austrian schilling | ATS | 040 |
| Belgian franc | BEF | 056 |
| British pound | GBP | 826 |
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 124 |
| Czech crown | CZK | 203 |
| Danish krone | DKK | 208 |
| Dutch guilder | NLG | 528 |
| Estonian kroon | EEK | 233 |
| Single European currency | EUR | 978 |
| Finnish brand | FIM | 246 |
| French franc | FRF | 250 |
| German mark | DEM | 276 |
| Greek drachma | GRD | 300 |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD | 344 |
| Hungarian forint | HUF | 348 |
| Irish pound | IEP | 372 |
| Italian lira | ITL | 380 |
| Japanese yen | JPY | 392 |
| Latvian lat | LVL | 428 |
| Lithuanian litas | LTL | 440 |
| Mexican Peso | MXN | 484 |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD | 554 |
| Norwegian krone | NOK | 578 |
| Polish zloty | PLN | 985 |
| Portuguese escudo | RTE | 620 |
| Russian ruble | RUB | 643 |
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 702 |
| Slovak koruna | SKK | 703 |
| South African rand | ZAR | 710 |
| Spanish peseta | ESP | 724 |
| Swedish krona | SEK | 752 |
| Swiss frank | CHF | 756 |
| Ukrainian hryvnia | UAH | 980 |
| U.S | USD | 840 |
Surely you noticed when you filled out a payment order at your bank that you have columns of currency codes: for the dollar - 840, euro - 978, Russian ruble - 643, Ukrainian hryvnia - 980.
Symbols of world currencies
In addition to currency signs and currency codes, there are also currency symbols $, £, ¥, €, which you very often see in everyday life.
The history of the dollar symbol $ has a number of versions.
The first version says that in 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon from Spain adopted a symbol that looked like the Pillars of Hercules entwined with a ribbon as his currency.
The second version tells the origin of the dollar symbol in the period between 1573 – 1825. in Potosi, which at that time was the largest industrial center in the world, and was located in the territory of modern Bolivia. The fact is that the coins that were circulated in Potosi at that time are very similar to the modern dollar symbol.
The third version talks about the similarity of the modern dollar symbol with the sestertius currency from Ancient Rome. The sesterce was designated IIS.
And according to the fourth version, it is assumed that the $ symbol was obtained as a result of the abbreviation of the Spanish peso. That is, in a single expression, peso was abbreviated as ps. Later, ps was simplified to a single letter S, which was simply crossed out with the missing letter p, which is how the $ symbol came out.
With other currencies everything is simpler. The designation for the pound £ comes from the Latin word libra, which means scales. At that time, the value of the pound was equal to the pound of silver.
The designation of the euro currency - € arose as a result of a sociological survey of the population. That is, the people themselves chose what their national symbol should look like. The euro itself is a very young European currency, which was born in 1999. The symbol €, according to the European Commission, denotes two elements: the importance of Europe in the Greek letter Epsilon, and the stability of the currency in two parallel lines.
The symbol for the Japanese yen currency - ¥ - arose as a result of drawing two parallel lines on the Latin letter Y. The Japanese describe their currency with the hieroglyph 円.
Most countries in the world do not bother with any special invention when designating currencies, but simply use abbreviations of the first letters in the name of the country. Thus, in Poland zlotys are denoted as zł, and the former German Deutsche Mark is simply abbreviated as DM.
Some countries designate their currencies with a symbol that is related to the dollar. For example, Nicaraguan Cordoba looks like C$.
The designation of the shekel currency in Israel in Hebrew is deciphered as the first letters of the name of the currency - ₪.
The history of the designation of the Russian ruble indicates that the name ruble itself was first encountered in the 13th century and meant a pound of silver, which weighed one hryvnia and was cut into pieces. Over time, the symbol of the ruble has changed. In the 17th – 19th centuries, the ruble was depicted by connecting two letters P and U. The modern symbol of the Russian ruble was approved only at the end of 2013 and denotes the letter P with a horizontal line intersecting the letter P - ₽ (but this symbol is not displayed correctly for everyone yet, since such a symbol appeared in Unicode tables quite recently).
Thus, we have dealt with the designations of the currencies of the world, examined the signs, codes and symbols of the main world currencies.
31.03.2018
In everyday life "Ossie". (1 Aussie = 100 cents).
Israeli new shekel
- , Shekel, in circulation from September 4, 1985 to the present day. It replaced the old shekel, which first appeared on February 24, 1980. 1 shekel = 100 agorot.
- Currency symbols are signs to uniquely designate a currency. Some of them originated in the 17th and 18th centuries. as a result of the evolution of writing (dollar $, pound £), others - in modern times (euro €).
World currency codes. Designation (symbols) of world currencies.
Andorra, Montenegro and Kosovo unilaterally adopted the euro. The yen, or ya, is the currency of Japan. It is also widely used as a reserve currency behind the US dollar, euro and pound sterling. The romanized character is ¥, and in Japanese it is also written with the kanji 円.
Although there is no specific use of the currency, large amounts of yen are often counted in thousands of thousands, just as currencies in the United States are often listed or rounded up to hundreds of thousands. A yen was legally defined as 78 ounces of pure silver or 1.5 grams of pure gold. The law also placed Japan on the gold standard, or gold regime.
Currency Letter code of currencies Numeric currency code Currency symbols Australian dollar AUD 036 AU$ Canadian dollar CAD 124 C$ Swiss frank CHF 756 Swedish krona SEK 752 kr New Zealand dollar NZD 554 NZ$ Japanese yen JPY 392 ¥ British pound GBP 826 £ U.S USD 840 $ Single European currency EUR 978 € Hong Kong dollar HKD 344 $ In 2010, 27.2% of the world's gold and foreign exchange reserves were held in euros. KRW 410 ₩ Danish krone DKK 208 kr Norwegian krone NOK 578 kr Singapore dollar SGD 702 S$ South African rand ZAR 710 R Israeli shekel ILS 376 ₪
The designation of world currencies is used to simplify the type of economic information. Each currency has its own three-digit code, where the first two letters indicate the country, and the last third letter is the name of the currency itself (dollar - D, franc - F, pound - P).
This procedure for three-digit designation of currencies is regulated by a special standard ISO 4217. The International Organization for Standardization in 1978 recommended that all countries use three-letter and three-digit currency codes.
Know currency symbols
When you start trading Forex, it would be wise to start with the seven major currencies. It is also wise to start with your country's currency if you live in one of the seven major countries, as you will be in a better position to judge the value of the currency. You should know that in the Forex market, currencies are usually expressed in a three-letter alphabet.
The symbols for the seven leading currencies are listed below. For more information about the number and symbols of coins in the world. But what if, instead of depicting figures from the past, the illustrations and designs of banknotes reflect and promote modern values and people's achievements? The answer to this question can be found in Methodi Zheinov's variants.
Symbol of any currency:
The main purpose of this use of currency designations was aimed at international documentation in international agreements, in which it was more effective to use abbreviated names of currency codes to identify their names, since the names of some currencies are quite similar (US dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, etc.).
Gender equality is one of the greatest achievements of Western civilization and a major asset of our modern culture. Every day we have money, but we look at those who silently look at securities? It turns out that national currencies are quite conservative, and the presence of a gentleman is more than occasional.
To avoid controversy, an alternative comes from Norway, which intends to print only five characters on five banknotes related to maritime themes - lighthouse, ship, fish, etc. Denmark has also adopted a monetary design that focuses on the story as a whole rather than on individual figures.
Of course, each country has adapted the ISO 4217 standard to suit its needs. For example, Russia has its own All-Russian Classifier of Currencies. Only the European Union uses the ISO 4217 standard directly.
The designation of currencies, according to the ISO 4217 standard, has been improved several times: digital codes have been introduced, and data on fractional monetary units has been introduced.
There are calls in the US and Canada to feature at least one woman on banknotes. There was also a similar campaign in the UK, which ended successfully after the country's Central Bank approved Jane Austen's imprint on the 10 pound note. But does a woman come into every country's currency?
Dollars are the faces of American founding fathers and former presidents, China's currency necessarily represents communist boss Mao, India has Mahatma Gandhi in circulation, but not a single banknote in these countries represents a woman.
In order to facilitate the use of the ISO 4217 standard, the designation of currencies was displayed in special tables - lists that indicate the name of the currency, the place of circulation of the currency, a three-letter alphabetic code, a three-digit alphabetic code, and decimal places for monetary units.
It is clear that some currencies go out of circulation, so they are marked in additions to the ISO 4217 standard with an explanation of the reasons for such changes, and the dates of entry and exit of information.
In the United States, the $20 bill campaign is run by a woman instead of the seventh president, Andrew Jackson, famous for forcing Indians into the West and his views on how the then-National Bank could operate.
Preferred names include Rosa Parks, Margaret Sanger and Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and one of the most prominent voices on American slavery. Our money tells the story of history and what our society represents. If we're talking about gender equality and social exclusion, then we need to change the currency, said activist Susan Stones.
All changes in currency designations are officially published on its website by a special agency - SIX Interbank Clearing in English and French.
The most interesting thing is that during the use of the designation of world currencies since 1978, practically all available currency signs were used, therefore, for new currencies, they came up with the idea of entering the letter N, from the English word - new.
When we open our wallets, we see the faces of four former premiers and Queen Elizabeth - a silent message that Canadian women are not valuable enough to be honored. Sexy banknotes are unacceptable in a country that wants to become a world leader in gender equality, says historian Merna Forster, who is also part of the campaign.
Sweden's central bank is dividing the banknotes equally, and the new crown design, due to be unveiled by the end of next year, will feature three men and three women - Greta Garbo, Astrid Lindgren and opera singer Brigitte Nielsen. Australia also has gender parity in its national currency, except that each note has a man on one side and a woman on the other.
Currency codes were needed to automate and unify the designation of currencies, so each country develops them independently, taking into account the ISO 4217 standard.
Letter designation of world currencies
| Currency name | Currency code | |
| Australian dollar | AUD | 036 |
| Austrian schilling | ATS | 040 |
| Belgian franc | BEF | 056 |
| British pound | GBP | 826 |
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 124 |
| Czech crown | CZK | 203 |
| Danish krone | DKK | 208 |
| Dutch guilder | NLG | 528 |
| Estonian kroon | EEK | 233 |
| Single European currency | EUR | 978 |
| Finnish brand | FIM | 246 |
| French franc | FRF | 250 |
| German mark | DEM | 276 |
| Greek drachma | GRD | 300 |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD | 344 |
| Hungarian forint | HUF | 348 |
| Irish pound | IEP | 372 |
| Italian lira | ITL | 380 |
| Japanese yen | JPY | 392 |
| Latvian lat | LVL | 428 |
| Lithuanian litas | LTL | 440 |
| Mexican Peso | MXN | 484 |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD | 554 |
| Norwegian krone | NOK | 578 |
| Polish zloty | PLN | 985 |
| Portuguese escudo | RTE | 620 |
| Russian ruble | RUB | 643 |
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 702 |
| Slovak koruna | SKK | 703 |
| South African rand | ZAR | 710 |
| Spanish peseta | ESP | 724 |
| Swedish krona | SEK | 752 |
| Swiss frank | CHF | 756 |
| Ukrainian hryvnia | UAH | 980 |
| U.S | USD | 840 |
Surely you noticed when you filled out a payment order at your bank that you have columns of currency codes: for the dollar - 840, euro - 978, Russian ruble - 643, Ukrainian hryvnia - 980.
The symbol of the Euro was proposed by the Belgian machinist Alain Billiet. Individual national notes and coins will expire. It's just old-fashioned, says American designer Massimo Vignilli. Montreal typographer Neil Kandalgaonkar shows on his page the difficulties associated with writing euros in regular manuscript. Also affected are residents of European countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland, who are losing their highly successful banknotes.
Billiet defends himself by offering a universal symbol that is not interchangeable or misinterpreted throughout the world. Although the euro is supported by version 5, it is placed in the position of an obscure emblem for an international currency, which is unfortunately found in Czech scripts. Therefore, you can put euros only from Roman, that is, without Czech characters.
Symbols of world currencies
In addition to currency signs and currency codes, there are also currency symbols $, £, ¥, €, which you very often see in everyday life.
The history of the dollar symbol $ has a number of versions.
The first version says that in 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon from Spain adopted a symbol that looked like the Pillars of Hercules entwined with a ribbon as his currency.
The second version tells the origin of the dollar symbol in the period between 1573 – 1825. in Potosi, which at that time was the largest industrial center in the world, and was located in the territory of modern Bolivia. The fact is that the coins that were circulated in Potosi at that time are very similar to the modern dollar symbol.
The third version talks about the similarity of the modern dollar symbol with the sestertius currency from Ancient Rome. The sesterce was designated IIS.
And according to the fourth version, it is assumed that the $ symbol was obtained as a result of the abbreviation of the Spanish peso. That is, in a single expression, peso was abbreviated as ps. Later, ps was simplified to a single letter S, which was simply crossed out with the missing letter p, which is how the $ symbol came out.
With other currencies everything is simpler. The designation for the pound £ comes from the Latin word libra, which means scales. At that time, the value of the pound was equal to the pound of silver.
The designation of the euro currency - € arose as a result of a sociological survey of the population. That is, the people themselves chose what their national symbol should look like. The euro itself is a very young European currency, which was born in 1999. The symbol €, according to the European Commission, denotes two elements: the importance of Europe in the Greek letter Epsilon, and the stability of the currency in two parallel lines.
The symbol for the Japanese yen currency - ¥ - arose as a result of drawing two parallel lines on the Latin letter Y. The Japanese describe their currency with the hieroglyph 円.
Most countries in the world do not bother with any special invention when designating currencies, but simply use abbreviations of the first letters in the name of the country. Thus, in Poland zlotys are denoted as zł, and the former German Deutsche Mark is simply abbreviated as DM.
Some countries designate their currencies with a symbol that is related to the dollar. For example, Nicaraguan Cordoba looks like C$.
The designation of the shekel currency in Israel in Hebrew is deciphered as the first letters of the name of the currency - ₪.
The history of the designation of the Russian ruble indicates that the name ruble itself was first used in the 13th century and meant a pound of silver, which weighed one hryvnia and was cut into pieces. Over time, the symbol of the ruble has changed. In the 17th – 19th centuries, the ruble was depicted by connecting two letters P and U. The modern symbol of the Russian ruble was approved only at the end of 2013 and denotes the letter P with a horizontal line intersecting the letter P - ₽ (but this symbol is not displayed correctly for everyone yet, since such a symbol appeared in Unicode tables quite recently).
Thus, we have dealt with the designations of the currencies of the world, examined the signs, codes and symbols of the main world currencies.
The number and variety of world currencies will make anyone's eyes sparkle. After all, the currency world is not only a variety of coins and banknotes, but also specific names, as well as a fascinating story that lies behind each national currency.
It so happened that certain types of currencies have become practically global, and their development and stability evoke sincere admiration. However, there are types of money that even local residents of the country where they are common have little understanding of.
In any case, to simplify the reading of trading reports, facilitate the process of orientation among the huge number of monetary units and flows of information from currency exchanges, special notations were invented. After all, this is the easiest way to quickly understand in what currency this or that amount is expressed.
Currency designation system
The term “currency” itself is borrowed from the Italian language and means “value”. In fact, currency is the unit of account of the state.
In order to somehow make the life of everyone involved in the financial sector easier, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted a standard, thanks to which any currency in the world was assigned a special designation, which made it possible to unify forms of financial activity.
ISO is a leader in the development of any international standards. And according to the standard it adopted, any world monetary unit received not only a three-digit letter designation, but also a digital one.
It should be noted that any power that decides to develop its own currency classification system always acts on the basis of an already existing ISO standard.
Major currencies of the world (16 currencies)
There are about 200 different currencies in the modern world, and only 150 of them are included in the international standard. It should be noted that, along with world currencies, some other medals and collectible coins are included in this standard.
Among so many monetary units of the world, 16 currencies have acquired a special status, which are now recognized as the main ones on the market.
These include:
However, it should be noted that only the first 7 currencies listed in the list are recognized as base ones. This means that they are the main reserve currencies and it is in them that many states prefer to both create and maintain their gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Letter designation of world currencies
As already mentioned, on any foreign exchange market and accompanying financial documentation, you will not find names familiar to the eye. After all, they have long been replaced by a special notation system that is easy to understand.
Thus, thanks to the merits of the International Organization for Standardization, each monetary unit received its own abbreviated letter designation, consisting of three Latin letters. Accordingly, the first two of them indicate the name of the country, but the last one indicates the name of the currency itself.
If you look at the familiar abbreviation USD (US dollar), you will understand that US is United States, and the letter D stands for the name of the currency itself - Dollar. A similar principle applies to the names of other currencies.
World currency signs
However, most people have already come across other options for designating world currencies more than once. Undoubtedly, we are talking about a symbolic display of currencies. This is an even more effective and concise way to display the type of currency; in addition, many signs date back more than a dozen, or even a hundred years, and have their own impressive history.
However, few people know (with the exception of financial specialists) that the general expression of all world currencies looks similar.
Of course, each of the major currencies has its own symbolic expression, although it makes sense to focus on the “base” currencies.
- $ — US dollar
- € — Euro
- £ — British pound
- ¥ — Japanese yen
- ₣ — Swiss franc
It is immediately noticeable that most symbols try to include horizontal lines. And this is no coincidence. After all, the presence of such components has always served as a symbol of stability and reliability of the currency.
World currency codes and their designations
In addition to alphabetic and symbolic expressions, any type of currency also has its own digital code. You may be wondering why such diversity is necessary, but everything has its own hidden meaning.
As you would expect, the use of a digital code makes it easier to carry out certain currency transactions.
As for the designations themselves, the codes of the main world currencies look like this:
Naturally, any currency has its own interesting history and a lot of features worthy of closer study. However, I would like to believe that the information provided will serve you well, significantly expanding the boundaries of your understanding of this area.
The most common currencies used in different countries of the world have a huge impact on processes in financial markets. Each monetary unit is indicated by a special symbol. This makes any of them recognizable and avoids confusion. Today, almost everyone can immediately distinguish such world currencies as the American dollar and sterling, the euro and the Japanese yen. Each of these symbols has its own history of origin and carries a certain meaning. This material proposes to consider the signs of the most popular world currencies.
U.S. dollar
Today, several versions of the origin of the sign of this currency are common. Some people are of the opinion that the “$” symbol came to the USA from Spain. At the time of the discovery of the American continent, the Spanish currency was the real. It was equal to 1/8 of the English pound sterling. This ratio became the reason for the name of the real that stuck with the British - “peace of eight” (1/8). And, accordingly, the symbol of the real currency was chosen in the form of a vertically crossed out eight.
According to another version, the symbol “$” originates from the name of the US state. Thus, American patriots believe that the first two letters of the English name USA form a dollar sign. As evidence, an argument is given that this symbol was used as a postal stamp for government correspondence.
Another interesting version of how the “$” currency sign came about is another “Spanish” version. Thus, it is alleged that when gold was exported from the territory of the colonies on the American continent, the “S” stamp was placed on the cargo. It symbolized the recipient's country - Spain. After arriving at Spanish ports, a vertical line was added to the sign, and when cargo was sent in the opposite direction, the symbol was marked with another additional line.
English pound
The British pound sterling currency sign “₤” is a combination of two symbols: the Latin letter L and two horizontal strokes. Sometimes a symbol with a single line (£) is used to denote this currency. It would be appropriate to say that a similar sign is used for other world currencies. For example, it is also used to denote the Turkish lira. The Latin word libra was used to define a measure of weight in ancient Rome and later in England.
Monetary unit of the European Union
The European Union currency symbol “€” was chosen based on the results of a sociological survey, in which residents of the member countries of the commonwealth took part. The symbol was officially introduced at the end of 1996. It should be noted that the euro is a very young currency. The world's currency symbols, such as the dollar, pound sterling, yuan and yen symbols, have a much longer history. Officially, the euro began to be used at the beginning of 1999. The development of the sign was carried out by the European Commission, which chose a combination of two symbols: the Greek letter “epsilon” and two parallel strokes, symbolizing the stability of the new monetary unit.
Swiss frank
Just a few years ago in Europe there were a number of currencies called “franc”. However, today only the Swiss representative of this currency is used in circulation. The “Fr” sign itself is made up of a combination of two letters: an uppercase “F” and a lowercase “r”. The appearance of the franc currency in Europe dates back to the 14th century. Then they began to use it in France.
Japanese yen and Chinese yuan
The name "yuan" appeared during the reign of the Qin Dynasty in China. This is how silver coins were called in those days. Local hieroglyphs were used for designation. Nowadays, the international sign is a combination of the Latin letter “Y” and a horizontal line.
Russian ruble
The ruble is the official currency in the Russian Federation. In addition, at one time money had the same name in the Russian principalities, the Russian Kingdom, the Russian Empire and the USSR. It should also be taken into account that the Republic of Belarus uses its own rubles.
The modern symbol of the Russian monetary unit consists of the capital letter “P” and one horizontal line crossing it out. An interesting fact is the fact that back in the 17th century, the ruble currency sign looked like a combination of two letters: “P” and “U”. The first of them was located at an angle of 90 degrees to the second counterclockwise. By the way, the very name “ruble” began to be used back in the 13th century.
