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The pound sign has different meanings in different countries. In the UK, it refers to the symbol “£” for British money, while in the US, it usually denotes the “#” symbol. The pound symbol in the UK comes from the word libra, which refers to an older form of currency valued by weight. The abbreviation for pound, “lb,” is used in many countries, including the US, where it was eventually replaced by the “#” symbol. This has led to confusion and interchangeable use for many Americans.
A pound sign can refer to two very different symbols, depending on which country a person using the term is located in or from. In the UK, for example, this sign refers to the symbol “£” which is typically used to denote the standard monetary units of England, also called the “pound”. This is essentially a stylized letter “L” with a horizontal line through it to indicate that it’s a symbol and not intended to be an actual letter. A pound sign in the United States, however, usually denotes the “#” symbol, which is often referred to as a “pound sign” or “number sign” in other countries.
There are two potentially very different meanings someone may be trying to express when referring to a “pound sign,” based on where that person is from. One of the most common uses of this term is to refer to the British pound symbol, which appears as “£” and usually denotes British money. This symbol comes from a slightly stylized capital letter “L,” which comes from the word libra to refer to older forms of currency. This is the Latin word for a particular unit of weight and comes from the way British currency was once valued.
The British currency is referred to as “pounds” and uses the pound symbol because it was initially valued against a certain amount of silver. A single “tower pound,” which was an older measure of weight in England, of silver was the value of a unit of currency, hence the name “pound.” This use of weight to determine value is related to the concept of scales and the symbol “£” which are used as a symbol for the pound. The common abbreviation for pound such as “lb” is also derived from the word libra.
This abbreviation for a pound, “lb,” has been used in a number of countries, including the United States. At one point, it was denoted with a horizontal stroke across it in the US to differentiate it from other letters, and eventually this was replaced by a “#”-like symbol, which was easier to read. This has led to the “#” symbol being referred to as a pound sign in American English, although other countries do not refer to it as such, using the terms “pound” or “number sign” instead. Early word processing software often did not have a symbol for the “£” sign, but the “#” could be used instead with a utility that made the printer create the “£” instead of printing a “#”, further adding to confusing and interchangeable use for many Americans.
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