There are 180 currencies in use around the world, and to identify them, different currency symbols, such as € or $, are used. However, not all currencies have such symbols, and not every symbol represents only one currency. To help you navigate this rather complex landscape, we present several most fascinating stories about currency symbols around the world and share tips on how to get the best exchange rates when sending money internationally.
£ Pound sterling
Among different currency symbols, perhaps, the oldest one still in use today represents the pound sterling: £. Its history goes back to the Roman Empire where it stood for ‘libra pondo’ or the ‘pound of weight’ (‘libra’ meaning scales or balance in Latin) expressed with a capital ‘L’. The earliest record of the ‘L’ money symbol crossed to indicate abbreviation is a cheque from 1661 now displayed in the Bank of England Museum. Under the pre-decimal currency system, a pound consisted of 20 shillings or 240 pence, or ‘solidi’ and ‘denarii’ respectively, hence ‘£sd’, the system’s name comprising the respective currency symbols. After decimalisation in 1971 all units are now related by powers of 10, which is very convenient when you send money from the UK with Profee as you do not need to painstakingly recalculate your guineas and half sovereigns anymore.
€ Euro
As an international currency symbol, € was designed in the 1990s specifically for the purpose of representing euro, the new European currency. The name itself was selected in 1995 and is the same in all European languages. In turn, the design had to be a highly recognisable symbol of Europe, consistent with other currency symbols around the world, and easy to write by hand.
Alluding to Greece as the cradle of European civilisation, the € currency symbol is based on the Greek letter epsilon (Ε, ε) which is also a direct reference to the ‘E’ in ‘Europe’. With its meticulously constructed design, € is the first to be copyrighted among different currency symbols. The eurozone, where euro is the primary currency, currently comprises 20 EU member states and several microstates such as Andorra and Monaco.
Those in the EU still retaining their national currencies are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, but they too are to relinquish their different currency symbols for euro in the future. For Profee’s customers in the EU, however, it does not matter as the service enables money transfers in all European currencies.
$ Dollar
An unmistakable global money symbol, the origins of the dollar sign $ are lost in history. According to one of the most widely accepted theories, it evolved from ‘Ps’, an abbreviation of the Spanish ‘peso’ which in the US was legal tender until 1857. Specifically, it is attributed to the notoriously bad handwriting of one Oliver Pollock, an 18th-century wealthy Irish trader and generous supporter of the American Revolution.
Counterintuitively, the use of $ as an international currency symbol is not limited to the US. In fact, over 20 countries’ currency is dollar including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Liberia, and so on. Moreover, it is a truly universal type of currency symbol standing also for the Brazilian real (R$) and, going back to its roots, peso in both Cuba and Mexico ($). Since all these dollars have very different values, it can be rather confusing sometimes, not knowing to which currency $ refers to. To avoid such confusions with different currency symbols, the Profee’s interface displays instead the 3-letter codes, for example, BRL for transfers in the Brazilian real, so that its clients can always be certain which types of currency symbols are involved in their transactions.
₹ Indian rupee
In 2009, possibly inspired by the success of € among currency symbols around the world, the Indian government decided to also come up with an international currency symbol for the rupee. The resulting design, ₹, combines the Roman capital ‘R’ with Devanagari ‘Ra’ (र) and in this type of currency symbols, the two parallel stripes represent both the national flag of India and the ‘equal to’ (=) sign reflecting the government’s policy to reduce economic inequality. One may say that Profee is a part of the latter too, because thousands of Indians living and working in Europe use the service to send money to India daily. Besides benefitting from the best exchange rate on the market, they take advantage of the Profee’s referral programme inviting their friends to use the service and earning unlimited money from it.
₱ Philippine peso
In a way, the Philippine peso’s (or piso, as it is called in Filipino) story among the types of currency symbols is the opposite of the dollar’s. While in the US, $ is thought to have developed from ‘Ps’ for pesos, in the Philippines the ₱ currency symbol replaced the original peso sign $ during American rule, to discern the local currency from the U.S. dollars. Interestingly, there are several countries around the world whose currency is peso, but they use different currency symbols, mostly $. The Philippines is the only ‘peso’ country to adopt the ₱ sign (officially, also Cuba, but $ is overwhelmingly used there in everyday life) – and one of more than 60 destinations globally where Profee is present.
₦ Nigerian naira
Gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria retained the pound-based system until decimalisation in 1973, when naira was introduced. Its name is derived from ‘Nigeria’ and the design, a double-crossed ‘N’, echoes other currency symbols around the world. Interestingly, the word ‘kobo’, which are the Nigerian ‘cents’, is a variation of the English term ‘copper’ of which the first Nigerian coins were made. Although due to inflation, physical coins are not widely used today, Profee clients sending money transfers to Nigeria can see kobo as part of the very attractive exchange rate in the converter on the website or in the iOS/Android app.
Speaking of Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Nigeria, all four destinations have something great in common: a special offer on money transfers there from Profee. Now is the best time to send money to any of those countries with Profee because:
- There is a promo exchange rate on the first transfer
- No commission is charged on all transfers.
Visit www.profee.com or get the Profee app from Google Play or the Apple Store to enjoy the fastest, cheapest, and most convenient money transfer service on the market.
