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The pound 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]
A currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency in the foreign exchange market. The currency that is used as the reference is called the counter currency , quote currency, or currency [ 1 ] and the currency that is quoted in relation is called the base currency or transaction currency.
The British pound sterling and Irish pound were among the last to be decimalised, on 15 February 1971. In places where £sd was used, there were several approaches to decimalisation: The pound remained the base unit (in Malta, using the Maltese name "lira"), but was subdivided into new fractional units of 1 ⁄ 100 of a pound.
Each currency typically has a main currency unit (the dollar, for example, or the euro) and a fractional unit, often defined as 1 ⁄ 100 of the main unit: 100 cents = 1 dollar, 100 centimes = 1 franc, 100 pence = 1 pound, although units of 1 ⁄ 10 or 1 ⁄ 1000 occasionally also occur.
Pound is a name of various units of currency. It is used in some countries today and previously was used in many others. 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'.
The pound remained as Britain's currency unit after decimalisation (unlike in many other British commonwealth countries, which dropped the pound upon decimalisation by introducing dollars or new units worth 10 shillings or 1 ⁄ 2 pound). The following coins were introduced with these reverse designs:
In theory, two countries currently use non-decimal currency: Mauritania (1 ouguiya = 5 khoums) and Madagascar (1 ariary = 5 iraimbilanja). In practice, however, the value of the main unit in each case is so low (less than 1/1000 of a United States dollar) that the sub-unit is not of any practical use and is rarely seen in circulation.
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.