Currency sign. Designation of the main monetary units of the world

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The most common currencies used in different countries of the world have a huge impact on the processes in the financial markets. Each currency unit is designated with a special symbol. This makes any of them recognizable and avoids confusion. Today, almost everyone can immediately distinguish between such signs of world currencies as the US dollar and the British pound sterling, the euro and the Japanese yen. Each of these symbols has its own history of origin and carries a certain meaning. In this material, it is proposed to consider the signs of the most popular world currencies.

US Dollar

Today, there are several versions of the origin of the sign of this currency. Some people are of the opinion that the symbol "$" came to the US 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 was the reason for the name of the real, which was fixed among the British - “peace of ait” (1/8). And, accordingly, the sign 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, the argument is made 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. So, it is alleged that when exporting gold from the territory of the colonies on the American continent, the stamp “S” was put on the goods. It symbolized the country of the recipient - Spain. After arriving at Spanish ports, a vertical strikethrough was added to the sign, and when sending cargo in the opposite direction, the symbol was marked with another additional dash.

English pound

The English pound currency sign "₤" is a combination of two symbols: the Latin letter L and two horizontal strokes. Sometimes a symbol with a single bar (£) is used to denote this currency. It would be opportune to say that a similar sign is used for other world currencies. For example, it denotes the Egyptian pound and the Turkish lira. The Latin word libra was used to define a measure of weight in ancient Rome and later in England.

EU currency

The currency sign of the European Union "€" was chosen based on the results of a sociological survey, in which residents of the member countries of the Commonwe alth took part. The symbol was officially introduced at the end of 1996. It should be noted that the euro is very youngmonetary unit. Symbols of the world's currencies, such as the symbol for the dollar, the pound sterling, the yuan, and the yen, have a much longer history. Officially, the euro began to be used in early 1999. The sign was developed by the European Commission, which chose a combination of two symbols to designate the currency: the Greek letter "epsilon" and two parallel strokes, symbolizing the stability of the new monetary unit.

Swiss Franc

A few years ago in Europe there were a number of currencies called "franc". However, today only the Swiss representative of this monetary unit is used in circulation. The sign "Fr" itself consists 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 XIV century. Then it began to be used in France.

Japanese yen and Chinese yuan

The Japanese yen has the symbol "". This currency is one of the world's officially recognized reserve currencies by the IMF. The yen received this status thanks to a powerful economy and a technical breakthrough in Japan. A hieroglyph can be used to represent the yen. True, this tradition is followed by the Japanese themselves on the territory of their country. In the rest of the world, the sign "" is used, which consists of the Latin letter "Y" and two horizontal strokes. It would be nice to say that the Chinese yuan is considered the progenitor of the Japanese yen.

The name "yuan" appeared during the reign of the Qin dynasty in China. This is how silver coins were called in those days. To designate a currencyChina used local characters. Nowadays, the international sign of the yuan currency 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 the same name was given to money in the Russian principalities, the Russian kingdom, the Russian Empire and the USSR. It should also be noted that the Republic of Belarus uses its own rubles.

The modern symbol of the Russian currency consists of the capital letter "R" and one horizontal line crossing it. An interesting fact is the fact that back in the 17th century, the sign of the ruble currency looked like a combination of two letters: “R” 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 as early as the 13th century.