SYM·0094 · Libra
Pound
the same word as the hash
- Unicode
- U+00A3 pound sign
- Meaning
- Pounds sterling — the weight of silver the unit once named.
- History
- An L for libra, the Roman pound, crossed by the ordinary scribal stroke that marks an abbreviation. Its closest relative is not another currency mark at all: # descends from libra pondo by the same route through ℔, so the pound of money and the pound of weight are the same word wearing two glyphs.
- Variants
- One bar or two; the two-bar form is now rare in British setting.
- Related
- # Number sign (SYM·0086) — its cousin; ℔ U+2114.
- Appears
- British and several other currencies, and every keyboard sold in the UK.
- Evolution
- Weight of metal → unit of account → national shorthand.
Sources · 3
- documented The derivation from libra with an abbreviation stroke.
- documented The shared libra pondo ancestry of £, ℔ and #.
- documented The Unicode Standard, U+00A3 POUND SIGN.