Currency symbol facts for kids

A currency symbol is a special picture or sign. It is used as a quick way to write the name of a country's money. You often see it when talking about how much money something costs.

Many old currency symbols are not used anymore. This happened when countries started using the euro. But having a new and unique symbol for money has become a big deal. It shows that a country's money is important around the world. For example, the European Commission thinks the euro sign € is a sign of its success.

In 2009, India held a contest. They wanted a new symbol for their money, the Indian rupee. Before, they shared a similar symbol with other countries. On July 15, 2010, they picked their new symbol: ₹ (₹). This new symbol mixes the English letter 'R' with the 'ra' sound from the Devanagari alphabet, which is used in India.

How Currency Symbols Are Used

When you write down an amount of money, the symbol's place can change. It depends on the language and country.

Where the Symbol Goes

In many English-speaking countries and places in Latin America, the symbol comes before the number. For example, you might see R$50.00. This means fifty Brazilian reals.

But in many European countries, like France or Germany, the symbol usually comes after the number. So, you might see 20,50 €. This means twenty euros and fifty cents.

How Numbers Are Written

The way numbers are written also changes by country. This includes how they show parts of a whole number, like cents or pence.

Some countries use a comma (,) to separate the whole number from the cents. For example, €5,00 means five euros. Other countries use a dot (.) for this. For instance, $50.00 means fifty dollars. The Cape Verdean escudo even puts its symbol where the decimal usually goes, like 20$00.

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