# Dollar and Pound Signs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984 "2000-05-19T16:34:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@lask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lask)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984/1 "2000-05-19T16:34:34Z")

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Who invented currency symbols? For instance where do the dollar $ and pound £ signs originate?

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984/2 "2000-05-19T16:42:10Z")

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Cecil Adams on the $ sign:

[What does the S in the dollar sign represent?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_178.html)

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984/3 "2000-05-19T16:48:58Z")

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[Encyclopædia Britannica on the £ sign](http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,62655+1+61103,00.html):

> [@](#):
>
> In medieval Latin documents the words libra, solidus, and denarius were used to denote the pound, shilling, and penny, which gave rise to the use of the symbols £, s., and d.

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Kamman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Bob\_Kamman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Kamman)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984/4 "2000-06-13T19:51:01Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*\*  
> Who invented currency symbols? For instance where do the dollar $ and pound £ signs originate?  
> \*\*

From an 1875 Scribner’s Magazine column:

“The dollar mark $ is a combination of the letters f and s, the Spanish fuertes or hard, to distinguish them from paper money. Even among ourselves we frequently hear the term ‘hard dollars,’ so that it is a monogram composed of the first and last letters of the word. Occasionally the calculator abbreviated it thus; fs.; but that interfering with the signs for francs and florins, he curled the s around the f, which preserves the distinction.”

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**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2000, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-and-pound-signs/19984/5 "2000-06-13T22:00:50Z")

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challenging Cecil with your first post?

rather bold.