Currency symbol
symbol used to represent a currency
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, after or between the numeric amounts: $2.50, 2,50€ and 250.
Symbols are neither defined nor listed by international standard ISO 4217, which only assigns three-letter codes.
The generic currency sign, used as a placeholder, is ¤.
Usage
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 $20.50. In most other countries, including many in Europe and Francophone Canada, the symbol is placed after the amount, as in 20,50 €. Exceptionally, the symbol for the Cape Verdean escudo (like the now-lapsed Portuguese escudo, to which it was formerly pegged) is placed in the decimal separator position, as in 250.
Design
Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Currency symbol” as symbol used to represent a currency. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q308229. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Currency symbol” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.