currency symbol

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 {{nowrap|{{char|$20.50}}}}. In most other countries, including many in Europe and Canada (when using French), the symbol is placed after the amount, as in {{nowrap|{{char|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 {{nowrap|{{char|{{cifrao|2|50}}}}}}.{{cite web |language=pt |publisher= Banco de Cabo Verde. |url=http://www.bcv.cv/vPT/Notas%20e%20Moedas/Moedas/Paginas/Moedas.aspx |url-status=dead |title=Moedas |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122182747/http://www.bcv.cv/vPT/Notas%20e%20Moedas/Moedas/Paginas/Moedas.aspx |archive-date=January 22, 2011 |access-date=25 February 2011 |quote={{lang|pt|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]

File:Euro Construction.svg ]]

File:Moreeurofonts.svg

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,{{cite journal |first=Lawrence |last=Kinnaird |date=July 1976 |jstor=967081 |title=The Western Fringe of Revolution |journal=The Western Historical Quarterly |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=259|doi=10.2307/967081 }} whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from the letter L (written until the seventeenth century in blackletter type as $\backslash mathfrak\{L\}$) standing for {{lang|la|libra}}, a Roman pound of silver.{{cite web | url= http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/Default.aspx?PageID=14314417 | title=The Origins of £sd | publisher=The Royal Mint Museum |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200308111135/http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/Default.aspx?PageID=14314417 |archive-date= 8 March 2020}}

Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism meaningful to their adopter. For example, the euro sign {{char|€}} is based on {{big|{{char|ϵ}}}}, an archaic form of the Greek epsilon, to represent Europe;{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_en.htm |title=European Commission – Economic and Financial Affairs – How to use the euro name and symbol |publisher=Ec.europa.eu |access-date=7 April 2010 |archive-date=29 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529042108/http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_en.htm |url-status=live }} the Indian rupee sign {{char|₹}} is a blend of the Latin letter 'R' with the Devanagari letter {{char|र}} (ra);{{cite web |url=http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/events/Indian_Rupee_Symbol.pdf |title=Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee |website=Idc.iitb.ac.in |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=21 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821132944/http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/events/Indian_Rupee_Symbol.pdf |url-status=live }} and the Russian Ruble sign {{char|₽}} is based on {{char|Р}} (the Cyrillic capital letter 'er').{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-introduces-new-currency-symbol-2013-12|title=Currency Geeks Rejoice, Russia Has A New Symbol For The Rouble|publisher=Business Insider|access-date=2021-05-31|archive-date=2021-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101053448/https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-introduces-new-currency-symbol-2013-12|url-status=live}}

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.Westcott, K. (2009) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7923825.stm India seeks rupee status symbol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621152053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7923825.stm |date=2017-06-21 }}, BBC 10 March 2009, accessed 1 September 2009 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}}

Some of these symbols may not display correctly.

The Unicode CJK Compatibility block contains several square versions of the names of currencies in Japanese katakana.

They are intended for compatibility with earlier character sets.

{{Portal|Money}}

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

{{Reflist}}

{{Currency symbols}}