Pound (currency)


A pound is any of various units of currency in some nations. The term originated in the Frankish Empire as a result of Charlemagne's currency reform and was subsequently taken to Great Britain as the value of a pound of silver., this amount of silver was worth approximately £147 sterling.
The English word pound is a cognate with, among others, German Pfund, Dutch pond, and Swedish pund. All ultimately derive from a borrowing into Proto-Germanic of the Latin expression lībra pondō, in which the word pondō is an adverb meaning "by weight" and related to the noun pondus.
The currency's symbol is £, a stylised representation of the blackletter L, standing for libra.
Today, the term may refer to the English name of a number of currencies and a variety of obsolete currencies. Some of them, such as in countries formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, are called pound in English, while in the local languages their official name is lira.

Countries and territories currently using currencies called pounds

Country/territoryCurrencyISO 4217 codeTied to pound sterling?
Egyptian poundEGPNo
Falkland Islands poundFKPYes
GibraltarGibraltar poundGIPYes
Guernsey poundGGPYes
Manx poundIMPYes
Jersey poundJEPYes
Lebanese poundLBPNo
Saint Helena poundSHPYes
South Sudanese poundSSPNo
Sudanese poundSDGNo
Syrian poundSYPNo
Pound sterlingGBPN/A
Pound sterlingGBPN/A
Pound sterlingGBPN/A
Pound sterlingGBPN/A

Historical currencies

All of the following currencies have been replaced by the US dollar.