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The pound sign £) is the symbol for ... meaning scales or a balance. The pound became an English unit of weight and in ... When used for sterling, the pound sign is ...
Sterling (ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. [3] 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]
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 2 50 .
The origin of £/, s, and d were the Latin terms Libra, meaning a pound weight (with the £ sign developing as an elaborate L), solidus (pl. solidi), 20 of which made up one Libra, and denarius (pl. denarii), 240 of which made up one Libra with 12 being equal to one solidus. These terms and divisions of currency were in use from the 7th century.
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.
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 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.