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{{Short description|Monetary symbol used in many national currencies}} | |||
{{Redirect|$}} | |||
{{redirect|$|the unit of currency|Dollar|other uses}} | |||
{{dablink|For technical reasons, :$ redirects here. See ]}} | |||
{{redirect|Peso sign|the Philippine peso sign "₱"|Philippine peso sign}} | |||
{{Punctuation marks|$}} | |||
{{Technical reasons|$#*! My Dad Says|the television show|$h*! My Dad Says{{!}}''$h*! My Dad Says''}} | |||
The '''dollar sign''' or '''peso sign''' ('''$''') is a symbol primarily used to indicate a unit of ]. | |||
{{Technical reasons|:$|the keyboard symbol|List of emoticons}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} | |||
{{Infobox currency sign|mark=$ | |||
|unicode={{unichar|0024|Dollar sign|html=}} | |||
|other names= Peso sign | |||
|currency= Many (see ], ]) | |||
|see also= | |||
|image variants=Dollar sign fonts.svg | |||
}} | |||
The '''dollar sign''', also known as the '''peso sign''', is a ] consisting of a ] {{angbr|]}} crossed with one or two vertical strokes (<span style="font-family:Courier New">{{char|$}}</span> or <span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{char|{{dollar2}}}}</span> depending on ]), used to indicate the unit of various ] around the world, including most currencies denominated "]" or "]". The explicitly double-barred <span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{char|{{dollar2}}}}</span> sign is called ''']''' in the ]. | |||
==History and proposed origins== | |||
The sign is attested in ] correspondence between ] and ] in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican ].<ref>]: "The Western Fringe of ]", ''The Western Historical Quarterly''. Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul., 1976), page 259 </ref> The ] was known as "]" in British ] and, in 1785, it was adopted as U.S. ], together with both the term "]" and the $ sign. The first instance of the ] on ] ] is on the reverse of a $1 coin first issued in February, 2007, under the ].<ref>Pub. L. No. 109-145, 119 Stat. 2664 (Dec. 22, 2005).</ref> | |||
The sign is also used in several compound currency symbols, such as the ] (R$), the ] (C$) and the ] (US$): in local use, the nationality prefix is usually omitted. In countries that have other ]s, the US dollar is often assumed and the "US" prefix omitted. | |||
The sign's ultimate origins are not certain<ref>"Note on Our Dollar Sign", ''Bulletin of the Business Historical Society'', Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct., 1939), pp. 57-58 </ref> although it is widely accepted that it comes from the ], which carries the two ] and the ] ] in the shape of an "S". | |||
The one- and two-stroke versions are often considered mere stylistic (]) variants, although in some places and epochs one of them may have been specifically assigned, by law or custom, to a specific currency. The ] computer encoding standard defines a single code for both. | |||
===Spanish coat of arms=== | |||
] with "S"-shaped ribbon in the Town Hall of ], (]) (16th century)]] | |||
The most popular explanation is that the dollar sign derives from the Spanish coat of arms engraved on the Spanish colonial silver coins "Real de a Ocho" ("piece of eight") or ] under circulation in the Spanish colonies of America and ], as well as in the English Thirteen Colonies and later the ] and ]. | |||
In most ]-speaking countries that use that symbol, it is placed to the left of the amount specified, e.g. "$1", read as "one dollar". | |||
The Spanish coat of arms has two columns (||), which represent the ] and an "S"-shaped ribbon around each, with the motto "Non Plus Ultra" originally, and later "Plus Ultra".<ref>Nussbaum, Arthur: ''A history of the dollar''. New York : Columbia University Press, 1957.</ref> | |||
==History== | |||
In 1492, ] ] put ] under the new joined rule of the ] ]. He adopted the symbol of the ] and added the ] ''Non plus ultra'' – meaning "and nothing further", indicating " the end of the (known) world". But as ] in 1492 travelled to ], the saying was changed to '']'' – as there was more out there.<ref>Earl Rosenthal: "Plus Ultra, Non plus Ultra, and the Columnar Device of Emperor Charles V", ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', Vol. 34, 1971 (1971), pp. 204-228</ref> This symbol was especially adopted by ] and was a part of his ] as a symbol of his American possessions and riches. When the Spanish ]es found gold and silver in the ], Charles V's symbol was stamped on the ]s made from these metals. These coins with the Pillars of Hercules over two ] ('']'') were spread around America and ], and the symbol was ultimately adopted by the country that became the ] and by many of the ] other independent nations. Later on, salesmen wrote signs that, instead of saying ''dollar'', had this ] symbol, and in turn this developed to the simple ''S'' with two vertical bars. | |||
The symbol appears in business correspondence in the 1770s from ], the early independent U.S., British America and Britain, referring to the Spanish American peso,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Lawrence |last=Kinnaird |date=July 1976 |jstor=967081 |title=The Western Fringe of Revolution |journal=The Western Historical Quarterly |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=259|doi=10.2307/967081 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Popular Science |author-link=Popular Science |journal=Popular Science |title=Origin of Dollar Sign is Traced to Mexico |date=February 1930 |issn=0161-7370 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ykDAAAAMBAJ}}</ref> also known as "]" or "piece of eight" in British America. Those coins provided the model for the currency that the United States adopted in 1792, and for the larger coins of the new Spanish American republics, such as the ], ], ], and ] coins. | |||
With the ], the United States Congress created the U.S. dollar, defining it to have "the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=371 |title=Section 9 of the Coinage Act of 1792 |publisher=Memory.loc.gov |access-date=August 24, 2010 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729031805/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001%2Fllsl001.db&recNum=371 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Meredith |first1=Stephanie |title=Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 {{!}} U.S. Mint |url=https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/coinage-act-of-april-2-1792 |website=United States Mint |access-date=12 August 2024 |pages=3 |date=6 April 2017}}</ref> but a variety of foreign coins were deemed to be ] until the ] ended this status.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=David A. |title=The Changing Role of Foreign Money in the United States, 1782-1857 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |date=1977 |volume=37 |issue=4 |page=1009 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2119352 |issn=0022-0507}}</ref> | |||
] around the modern coat of arms of Spain.]] | |||
The earliest U.S. dollar coins did not have any dollar symbol. The first occurrence in print is claimed to be from 1790s, by a Philadelphia printer ], creator of the ].<ref name=ander2019>Hephzibah Anderson (2019): " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812172054/https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190528-the-curious-origin-of-the-symbol |date=12 August 2021 }}". Online article at the ] website, dated 29 May 2019. Accessed on 2021-08-12.</ref> The $1 ] issued by the United States in 1869 included a large symbol consisting of a "U" with the right bar overlapping an "S" like a single-bar dollar sign, as well as a very small double-stroke dollar sign in the legal warning against forgery.<ref>]</ref> | |||
There is also another explanation that makes the sign derive from where "$" is a corruption of the letters "PS" or <math>\mathrm{P}^\mathrm{S}</math>, used as an abbreviation for ]s.<ref>Arthur S. Aiton; Benjamin W. Wheeler: "The First American Mint", ''The Hispanic American Historical Review''. Vol. 11, No. 2 (May, 1931), pp. 198-215. </ref><ref>, US Bureau of Engraving and Printing website</ref> | |||
===Earlier history of the symbol=== | |||
===Alternate hypotheses=== | |||
] mint, showing the Pillars of Hercules with "S" ribbons, and two "PTSI" monograms at about 4 and 8 o'clock around the edge]] | |||
{{Unreferencedsection|date=August 2007}} | |||
There are a number of alternative origin theories, with several degrees of verifiability and academic acceptance. | |||
It is still uncertain, however, how the dollar sign came to represent the Spanish American peso. There are currently several competing hypotheses: | |||
====From 'US'==== | |||
That $ is a ] of U and S (United States), which was used as a mark on money bags issued by the ]. The letters U and S superimposed resemble the historical double stroke "$" sign: the bottom of the 'U' disappears into the bottom curve of the 'S', leaving two vertical lines. This double-stroke dollar sign has been used to refer to the U.S. currency. Thus, the one-stroke design may have been modified to the double-stroke design to represent United States currency. This idea was largely popularized by the novel '']'' by philosopher ]<ref>Rand, Ayn. ''Atlas Shrugged''. 1957. Signet. 1992. p628</ref>. It does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use in the time of the ] prior to their independence as the United States. | |||
] (16th century).]] | |||
====Symbol used on the Roman sestertius==== | |||
* The most widely accepted theory holds that the sign grew out of the Spanish and Spanish American ] "p<sup>s</sup>" for pesos. A study of late 18th- and early 19th-century ]s shows that the ''s'' gradually came to be written over the ''p'', developing into a close equivalent to the "$" mark.<ref name=cajori1929>{{cite book |first=Florian |last=Cajori |author-link=Florian Cajori |year=1993 |orig-year=1929 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7juWmvQSTvwC&pg=RA1-PA22 |title=A History of Mathematical Notations |volume=2 |pages=15–29|publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=9780486677668 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Arthur S. |last1=Aiton |first2=Benjamin W. |last2=Wheeler |date=May 1931 |jstor=2506275 |title=The First American Mint |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=11 |issue=2 |page=198|doi=10.1215/00182168-11.2.198 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=nuss1957>{{cite book |last=Nussbaum |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Nussbaum |title=A History of the Dollar |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdollar0000nuss |url-access=registration |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1957 |location=New York |page= |quote=The foreign coins remained in circulation , and the more important among them, especially the Spanish (including the Mexican) dollars, were declared by Congress on February 9, 1793, to be legal tender. The dollar sign, $, is connected with the peso, contrary to popular belief, which considers it to be an abbreviation of 'U.S.' The two ] represented one of the many abbreviations of 'P,' and the 'S' indicated the plural. The abbreviation '$.' was also used for the peso, and is still used in Argentina.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Riesco Terrero |first=Ángel |year=1983 |title=Diccionario de abreviaturas hispanas de los siglos XIII al XVIII: Con un apendice de expresiones y formulas juridico-diplomaticas de uso corriente |location=Salamanca |publisher=Imprenta Varona |page= |isbn=84-300-9090-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/diccionariodeabr0000ries/page/350 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What is the origin of the $ sign? |url=http://www.bep.gov/resources/faqs.html#wb_element_text__1399408259221_115 |work=Resources: FAQs |author=Bureau of Engraving and Printing |author-link=Bureau of Engraving and Printing |access-date=2016-04-08 |archive-date=9 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409064155/http://www.bep.gov/resources/faqs.html#wb_element_text__1399408259221_115 |url-status=live }}</ref> ], a wealthy ] trader and early supporter of the American Revolution, used the abbreviation "ps", sometimes run together in a way that almost exactly resembled the dollar sign, in a letter dated 1778.<ref name=ander2019/><ref name=roth2018>Joshua D. Rothman (2018): " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812185942/http://werehistory.org/the-curious-origins-of-the-dollar-sign/ |date=12 August 2021 }}" Online article on the ''We're History'' website, dated 2018-04-01. Accessed on 2021-08-12.</ref> There are documents showing the common use of the two-stroke version in Portugal already by 1775.<ref name=beux1775/> | |||
That the dollar sign goes back to the most important Roman coin, the ], which had the letters 'HS' as its currency sign. When superimposed, these letters form a dollar sign with two vertical strokes (the horizontal line of the 'H' merging into the 'S'). This explanation is widely discarded, in spite of the tendency of neo-classic ] influences in styles evident in other early US government designs, such as the ] and ] buildings. | |||
* Another hypothesis derives the sign from a depiction of the ], a classical symbol for two sides of the ], with a ] wrapped around each pillar (or both pillars) in the form of an "S". This device is a support element of the ], and appeared on the most common ''real de ocho'' coins circulating at the time in the Americas and Europe; namely, those minted at the ] mint in ], which operated from 1573 to 1825.<ref name=seij2017/><ref name=nuss1957/> Indeed, one of the names used for Spanish dollars in ] China was {{Lang-zh|labels=no|p=Shuāngzhù|s=|t=雙柱|l=double-pillar}}.<ref name=theo2016>Ulrich Theobald (2016): " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409053321/http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/cash-qing.html#silverdollars |date=9 April 2021 }}". Online article in the website ''ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art'', dated Apr 13, 2016. Accessed on 2021-08-14.</ref> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
* A variant of the above theory claims that the sign comes from the ] of the mint at ], where a large portion of the Spanish Empire's silver was mined. A feature on these coins were the letters "P T S I" superimposed. The core of this ] is a (single-stroked) "$" sign.<ref name=chor2011>Sandra Choron and Harry Choron (2011): '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405174327/https://books.google.com/books?id=YEdwW78QWj0C&pg=PA68 |date=5 April 2023 }}'' page 68. {{isbn|9781452105598}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
* Yet another hypothesis notes that the English word "dollar" for the Spanish piece of eight originally came (through ] ''daalder'') from ] or ], a similar large German silver coin that was widely used in Europe. It is therefore conjectured that the dollar sign derived from a symbol consisting of a superimposing S and I or J that was used to denote the German silver coin. Such symbol appears in the 1686 edition of ''An Introduction to Merchants' Accounts'' by ].<ref>'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926054826/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3110685 |date=26 September 2018 }}''</ref> Alternatively, the symbol could have come from a snake and cross emblem on the thaler coins.<ref name=ander2019/> | |||
===Less likely theories=== | |||
====Pillars in the temple of Solomon==== | |||
The following theories seem to have been discredited or contradicted by documentary evidence: | |||
That the ''two'' vertical lines represent the two cult pillars ] in the original ] at Jerusalem. This is based on the idea that ] symbols, such as the ] of God, appear on U.S. currency; however, they did not in 1785. | |||
* In 1937, historian ] claimed that the symbol with two strokes was an adapted design of patriot ] in 1778, in letters written to Pollock.<ref>{{cite book | last = James | first = James Alton | title = Robert Morris: The Life and Times of an Unknown Patriot | publisher = Books for Libraries Press | year = 1970 | orig-year = 1937 | location = Freeport | page = 356 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kht_DEllNccC | isbn = 978-0-8369-5527-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = James | first = James Alton | title = 'Robert Morris, Financier of the Revolution in the West'. | publisher = The Mississippi Valley Historical Review | year = 1929}}</ref><ref name=roth2018/> | |||
====Sign used on the German Thaler==== | |||
* In 1939, H. M. Larson suggested that the sign could derive from a combination of the Greek character ] and "S".<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=3111350 |last=Larson |first=Henrietta M. |title=Note on Our Dollar Sign |journal=Bulletin of the Business Historical Society |volume=13 |issue=4 |date=October 1939 |pages=57–58|doi=10.2307/3111350 }}</ref> | |||
That it derives from the symbol used on a German ]. According to Ovason (2004), on one type of thaler, one side showed the crucified ], and the other side showed a ] hanging from a ], and near the serpent's head the letters NU, and on the other side of the cross the number 21. This refers to the ], Numbers, chapter 21 (see ]). | |||
* A theory claims that the sign started off as a monogram of "US", with a narrow "U" superimposed on the "S"; the bottom part of the "U" would have been lost, producing the dollar sign with two vertical lines. This theory was mentioned in letters to ] in 1876.<ref name=cajori1929 /> ] begins his classic 1886 essay on management with this theory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Towne |first=Henry R. |url=http://archive.org/details/transactionsof07amer |title="Engineer as an Economist" |date=1886 |publisher=in Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York City: American Society of Mechanical Engineers |others=}}</ref> This was also claimed by ] in her 1957 novel '']''; in her version of the theory the monogram "US" would have been used on money bags issued by the ].<ref name=hist2018>(2018): " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812172054/https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-dollar-sign-come-from |date=12 August 2021 }}" Online article of the ''History'' channel website, dated 2018-08-22. Accessed on 2021-08-12.</ref><ref name=ander2019/> | |||
* Authors T. Seijas and J. Frederick noted that the captors of slaves in Spanish territories sometimes branded enslaved people with a symbol very similar to a one-barred dollar sign. ''Esclavo'' is Spanish for "slave," and ''clavo'' means nail. A dollar sign would then be S + ''clavo''.<ref name=seij2017>{{Cite book|last=Seijas|first=Tatiana and Jake Frederick|title=Spanish Dollars and Sister Republics: The Money That Made Mexico and the United States|publisher=]|year=2017|isbn=9781538100462|location=Lanham|pages=3–4}}</ref> | |||
* A theory often cited in ] speaking countries is that the "S" part of the doubly-stroked sign is a schematic representation of the path followed by the ] general ] in his conquest of the ] kingdom in 711 ], and the two strokes represent the Pillars of Hercules that he would have crossed along that path. That symbol would have been engraved in coins commemorating his victory, and then became symbolic of currency in general.<ref name=cmoeda>(2015): "Origem do Cifrão". Note on the website of the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (Brazilian Mint). Accessed on 2021-08-12.</ref> | |||
== Currencies that use the dollar sign == | |||
====Unit of silver==== | |||
===As symbol of the currency=== | |||
The dollar symbol was in use in colonial times before the American Revolution. Prices were often quoted in units of silver, as the Spanish "piece of eight" was in common use for payment of goods and services. When a price was quoted the capital 'S' was used to indicate silver with a capital 'U' written on top to indicate units. Eventually, the capital 'U' was replaced by double vertical hash marks. | |||
The numerous currencies called "]" use the dollar sign to express money amounts. The sign is also generally used for the many currencies called "]" (except the ], which uses the symbol "]"). Within a country the dollar/peso sign may be used alone. In other cases, and to avoid ambiguity in international usage, it is usually combined with other glyphs, e.g. CA$ or Can$ for ]. Particularly in professional contexts, the unambiguous ] (AUD, MXN, USD, etc.) is preferred. | |||
The dollar sign, alone or in combination with other glyphs, is or was used to denote several currencies with other names, including: | |||
====In Greek mythology==== | |||
The dollar sign may have also originated from the ] of bankers, thieves, messengers, and tricksters: ]. Besides the ], one of his symbols was the ], a staff from which ribbons or snakes dangled in a sinuous curve. | |||
* ] (various currencies, all defunct): ₢$, CR<span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span>, Cr<span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span>, NCr<span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span>, etc. | |||
====Other theories==== | |||
* ]: R$ | |||
Another possibility is that it derives from the British notation ''8/'' for eight ]s, referring to the Spanish 8 reales coin ("]"), which later became the USA dollar. Others derive it from the Portuguese ] sign <math>\mathrm{S}\!\!\!\Vert</math>.<ref>Florian Cajori: "New Data on the Origin and Spread of the Dollar Mark", ''The Scientific Monthly''. Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sep., 1929), pp. 212-216 </ref> | |||
* ] (until 1976): E$ | |||
* ]: MOP$ | |||
* ]: C$ | |||
* ] (a transliteration of the word dollar): $ | |||
* ]: T$ | |||
* ] (1957–1967): $ | |||
* ] (1967–1997): $, M$, M<span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span> | |||
* ] (1953–1975): $, <span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span> | |||
====Prefix or suffix<span class="anchor" id="Placement"></span>==== | |||
] | |||
In the United States, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Pacific Island nations, and English-speaking Canada, the sign is written before the number ("$5"), even though the word is written or spoken after it ("five dollars", "''cinco pesos''"). In French-speaking Canada, exceptionally, the dollar symbol usually appears after the number,<ref>{{cite web |title=Banque de dépannage linguistique - Somme d'argent |url=https://bdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?id=1584 |website=Office québécois de la langue française |access-date=31 October 2022 |archive-date=29 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929085154/https://bdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?id=1584 |url-status=live }}</ref> e.g., "{{Not a typo|5$}}". (The ] is written after the number in most countries that use it, e.g., "5]".) | |||
===Use in the Portuguese Empire<!-- start of anchors attached to this heading; do not alter the anchors when changing the heading only --><span class="anchor" id="Cifrão"></span><span class="anchor" id="Cifrao"></span><!-- end of anchors -->=== | |||
A common explanation is that the symbol is derived from the numeral eight with a slash through it denoting "]". The Oxford English Dictionary prior to 1963 held that this was the most probable explanation, though later editions have placed it in doubt. | |||
] | |||
In Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the ], the two-stroke variant of the sign (with the name '''{{lang|pt|]}}''' ({{IPA|pt|siˈfɾɐ̃w|-|Pt-cifrão.oga}}) was used as the thousands separator of amounts in the national currency, the ] (plural "réis", abbreviated "Rs."): {{Cifrão|123|500}} meant "{{val|123500|u=réis}}". This usage is attested in 1775, but may be older by a century or more.<ref name="beux1775">João Joseph Du Beux (1775): {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812225714/https://www.unicamp.br/iel/memoria/base_temporal/Numeros/vcXVIII_75a.htm |date=12 August 2021 }} for purchase by of 50 volumes of the ''Acta Santorum'' by the College of the Carmo of Coimbra. Quote: "Recebemos a quantia de Duzentos Settenta mil reis por Clareza passamos este Coimbra 15 de Março de 1775. São {{Cifrão|270|000}} Rs". Cartório do Colégio do Carmo, Maço 35, n.o 17. apud ALMEIDA, Manuel Lopes in "Livro, livreiros, impressores em documentos da Universidade", Arquivo de Bibliografia Portuguesa, ano X–XII, Atlântida, Coimbra, 1964–66, n o 37–48.</ref> It is always written with two vertical lines: ]. It is the official sign of the ] (]: CVE). | |||
In 1911, Portugal redefined the national currency as the ], worth {{val|1000|u=réis}}, and divided into 100 {{lang|pt|centavos|nocat=yes}}; but the ''cifrão'' continued to be used as the ],<ref name=silva2019/> so that {{Cifrão|123|50}} meant {{val|123.50|u=escudos}} or 123 escudos and 50 centavos. This usage ended in 2002 when the country switched to the ]. (A similar scheme to use a letter symbol instead of a decimal point is used by the ] in electrical engineering since 1952.) | |||
Still another explanation holds that the dollar sign is derived from (or at least inspired by) the ] on Spanish colonial silver coins ("]" or "]") that were minted in ] (in present day ]). The mint mark was composed of the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another, and bears an undeniable resemblance to the single-stroke dollar sign (see picture). The Potosí mine is generally accepted as having been the largest single ] in history. Silver coins minted in Potosí would have been in common use in colonial America, and its mint mark widely recognized. Poorly documented explanations sustains that the symbol represents an snake, guarding a bag, and that it was used in ]. | |||
], a republic and former Portuguese colony, similarly switched from the real to their local ] and centavos in 1914, and retains the ''cifrão'' usage as decimals separator as of 2021. Local versions of the Portuguese escudo were for a time created also for other overseas colonies, including ] (1958–1975), ] (1958–1961), ] (1914–1928 and 1958–1977), ] (1914–1980), ] (1914–1975), and ] (1914–1977); all using the ''cifrão'' as decimals separator.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} | |||
====First cast dollar symbol==== | |||
According to a plaque in the ] of ] in ], the first dollar symbol was cast in a type-foundry in ] in 1797 that belonged to Scottish immigrant ]. John Baine had lodged in a house in South Street in St Andrews with ], the father of Scottish type-founding. | |||
] | |||
] retained the real and the ''cifrão'' as thousands separator until 1942, when it switched to the ], with comma as the decimals separator. The dollar sign, officially with one stroke but often rendered with two, was retained as part of the currency symbol {{nowrap|"Cr$"}}, so one would write {{nowrap|Cr$13,50}} for 13 cruzeiros and 50 centavos.<ref name=cruz1960>(1960): Price {{nowrap|"Cr$ 15,00"}} on the {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814221630/https://muzeez.com.br/historias/revista-o-cruzeiro-1960/aznCgnu8gZiLGC4KJ |date=14 August 2021 }} of the 1960-05-07 issue of '']'' magazine, reproduced on the ''Muzeez'' website on 2016-12-105. Accessed on 2021-08-14.</ref> | |||
==Use in computer programming== | |||
As the dollar sign is one of the few symbols that is on the one hand almost universally present in computer ]s, but on the other hand rarely needed in its literal meaning within programming languages, the $ character has been used on ]s for many purposes not related to money, including: | |||
*$ was used as a string terminator in ] and subsequently also in all versions of ], ], ] and derivatives (Int 21h with AH=09h) | |||
*$ signifies the end of a line or the file in text editors ], ], ] and derivatives, and consequently: | |||
*$ matches the end of a line or string in ], ], and ] and ] ]s. | |||
*$ was used to define ] variables in older versions of the ] ("$" was often pronounced "string" instead of "dollar" in this use). | |||
*$ is used to define hexadecimal constants in ]-like languages such as ], as well as in certain variants of ]. | |||
*$ is used to define ]s in the ] programming language and ] ]s in the ] programming language (see ]). | |||
*In the ] automation script language, any variable is required to have a $ at the beginning of its name. | |||
*In most ]ing languages, $ is used to interpolate ]s, special variables, arithmetic computations and special characters, and to perform translation of localised strings. | |||
*In ]-like systems the $ is often part of the ], depending on the user's ] and environment settings. For example, the default environment settings for the ] shell specify $ as part of the command prompt. | |||
*$ is used in the ] ] language to delimit mathematical regions. | |||
*$ is used by the <code>prompt</code> command in ] to insert special sequences into the DOS command prompt string. | |||
*Formulas in ] and other ]s use $ to indicate an absolute cell reference. | |||
*In many versions of ], $ could be used as an alternative to a quotation mark for delimiting strings. | |||
The ''cifrão'' was formerly used by the ] (ISO: PTE) before its replacement by the ] and by the ] (ISO: TPE) before its replacement by the ] and the ].<ref name="LT">Lisbon-tourist-guide.com. " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002162306/https://www.lisbon-tourist-guide.com/portuguese-escudo.html |date=2 October 2022 }}." 2008.</ref> In Portuguese and Cape Verdean usage, the {{lang|pt|cifrão}} is placed as a decimal point between the escudo and {{lang|pt|]}} values.<ref name="Moedas">Banco de Cabo Verde. " {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122182747/http://www.bcv.cv/vPT/Notas%20e%20Moedas/Moedas/Paginas/Moedas.aspx |date=2011-01-22 }}." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.</ref> The name originates in the ] {{lang|ar-Latn|ṣifr}} ({{wikt-lang|ar|صِفْر}}), meaning 'zero'.<ref name="Casa da Moeda">{{cite web |last=Casa da Moeda |title=Origem do Cifrão |url=http://www.casadamoeda.gov.br/portal/socioambiental/cultural/origem-do-cifrao.html |publisher=Casadamoeda.gov.br |access-date=11 March 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312022635/http://www.casadamoeda.gov.br/portal/socioambiental/cultural/origem-do-cifrao.html |url-status=live |language=pt }}</ref> | |||
==Currencies that use the dollar or peso sign== | |||
In addition to those countries of the world that use ]s or ]s, a number of other countries use the $ symbol to denote their currencies, including, but not limited, to: | |||
Outside the Portuguese cultural sphere, the ] before 1975 used a method similar to the ''cifrão'' to separate values of đồng from its decimal subunit ''xu''. For example, {{Cifrão|7|50}} meant 7 đồng and 50 xu. | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
Except the ], whose sign is written as ]. | |||
==One stroke vs. two strokes== | |||
Some currencies use the '']'' <math>(\mathrm{S}\!\!\!\Vert )</math>, similar to the dollar sign, but always with two strokes: | |||
] | |||
{{see also|Pound sign#Double bar style}} | |||
In some places and at some times, the one- and two-stroke variants have been used in the same contexts to distinguish between the U.S. dollar and other local currency, such as the former ].<ref name=silva2019>{{cite web | title=Currency signs missing in Unicode | author=Eduardo Marín Silva | publisher=] | url=http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19291-missing-currency.pdf | date=22 July 2019 | access-date=12 August 2021 | archive-date=31 August 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831201544/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19291-missing-currency.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] (defunct) | |||
However, such usage is not standardized, and the ] specification considers the two versions as ]—a ] choice.<ref name="U+0024">{{cite book |title=The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1 |chapter=C0 Controls and Basic Latin {{!}} Range: 0000–007F |chapter-url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf |publisher=]}}</ref> Computer and typewriter keyboards usually have a single key for that sign, and many character encodings (including ] and ]) reserve a single numeric code for it. Indeed, dollar signs in the same digital document may be rendered with one or two strokes, if different ]s are used, but the underlying ] U+0024 (ASCII 36<sub>10</sub>) remains unchanged. | |||
The cifrão is also currently used to account for over 130,000,000 domestic standard ] (1986+) bullion US silver dollars as one dollar per one troy ounce fine (99.9%), thereby avoiding confusion with debased US trade dollar-denominated tokens and ] Notes. | |||
When a specific variant is not mandated by law or custom, the choice is usually a matter of expediency or aesthetic preference. Both versions were used in the US in the 18th century. (An 1861 ]-era advertisement depicts the two-stroked symbol as a snake.<ref name=roth2018/>) The two-stroke version seems to be generally less popular today, though used in some "old-style" fonts like ]. | |||
==See also== | |||
*] | |||
== Use in computer software == | |||
*] | |||
Because of its use in early American computer applications such as business accounting, the dollar sign is almost universally present in computer ]s, and thus has been appropriated for many purposes unrelated to money in ]s and ]s. | |||
===Encoding=== | |||
The dollar sign "$" has Unicode code point U+0024 (inherited from ] via ]).<ref name="U+0024" /> | |||
* {{unichar| 0024| Dollar sign| html=}}{{efn|{{as of|April 2022}}, HTML5 is the only version of HTML that has a named entity for the dollar sign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.w3.org/TR/html4/sgml/entities.html|title=24 Character entity references in HTML 4|quote=The following sections present the complete lists of character entity references|website=www.w3.org|access-date=7 April 2018|archive-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401051616/http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/sgml/entities.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/CR-html5-20140731/syntax.html#named-character-references |title=8.5 Named character references |quote=dollar;{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}U+00024{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}$ |access-date=7 April 2018 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805013240/http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/CR-html5-20140731/syntax.html#named-character-references |url-status=live }}</ref>}} | |||
There are no separate encodings for one- and two-line variants. The choice is typeface-dependent, they are ]s. However, there are three other code points that originate from other East Asian standards: the Taiwanese ], the CJK ], and the Japanese ]. The glyphs for these code points are typically larger or smaller than the primary code point, but the difference is mostly aesthetic or typographic, and the meanings of the symbols are the same. | |||
* {{unichar| FE69| Small dollar sign| html =}} | |||
* {{unichar| FF04| Fullwidth dollar sign| html =}} | |||
* {{unichar| 1F4B2| Heavy dollar sign| html =}} | |||
However, for usage as the special character in various computing applications (see following sections), U+0024 is typically the only code that is recognized. | |||
Support for the two-line variant varies. {{As of|2019|post=,}} the ] standard considers the distinction between one- and two-bar dollar signs a ], and has no separate ] for the {{lang|pt|cifrão}}. The symbol is not in the October 2019 "pipeline",<ref>{{cite web | url= https://unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html | title= Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline | publisher= ] | date= 11 October 2019 | accessdate= 26 December 2019 | archive-date= 31 March 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170331011749/https://unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html | url-status= live }}</ref> though it has been requested formally.<ref name=silva2019/> | |||
Among others, the following fonts display a double-bar dollar sign for code point 0024:{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} regular-weight ], ], ], ]: (<span style="font-family:Bodoni MT, Big Caslon, Garamond, Baskerville, Brush Script MT, STFangsong, STKaiti, STSong, serif">$</span>) <!-- Please do not add any font that does not have its own article. The list is already long enough to illustrate the point. --> | |||
In ], with the {{Proper name|textcomp}} package installed, the {{lang|pt|cifrão}} (<span style="color: black !important; background-color: white !important;">{{dollar2}}</span>) can be input using the command <code>\textdollaroldstyle</code>. However, because of ] and the lack of a dedicated code point, the author of an electronic document who uses one of these fonts intending to represent a {{lang|pt|cifrão}} cannot be sure that every reader will see a double-bar glyph rather than the single barred version. Because of the continued lack of support in Unicode, a single bar dollar sign is frequently employed in its place even for official purposes.<ref name="Moedas"/><ref>Banco Central do Brasil. " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170514181516/http://www4.bcb.gov.br/pec/taxas/batch/tabmoedasi.asp?id=curtable |date=14 May 2017 }}" Accessed 24 Feb 2011.</ref> Where there is any risk of misunderstanding, the ] three-letter acronym is used. | |||
===Programming languages=== | |||
* In ], {{code|$}} is appended to a ] name to define that variable’s ] as a ], for example, <code>H$="Hello, world!"</code>. In discussion, the variable <code>H$</code> would be referred to as “H string.” | |||
* {{code|$}} is prefixed to names to define ] in the ] language and the ] automation script language, ] variables in the ] language (see ]), and global variables in the ] language. In Perl programming this includes scalar elements of ] {{code|2=perl|$array}} and ] {{code|2=perl|$hash{foo} }}. | |||
* In ]s, and later in other programming languages, {{code|$}} introduces an expression that should be evaluated to yield text. Languages that have adopted this convention include ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Other languages, including ] and ], use it to mark the place where the result of an expression elsewhere should be inserted into text. | |||
* {{code|$}} is used for defining hexadecimal constants in ]-like languages such as ], and in some variants of ], most notably, in the Motorola 6800 and 68000, and MOS Technology 6502 assembly languages. | |||
* {{code|$}} is used in the ] language to delimit ] regions. | |||
* {{code|$}} is used in the ] ] language to delimit mathematical regions. | |||
* In many versions of ], {{code|$}} could be used as an alternative to a quotation mark for delimiting strings. | |||
* In ], {{code|$}} can be used to put a visible separation between words in compound identifiers. For example, {{code|Some$Name}} refers to the same thing as 'SomeName'. | |||
* In ], {{code|$}} is used as a function application operator. | |||
* In an ] script, a hotkey declared with {{code|$}} is not triggered by a 'Send' command elsewhere in the script. | |||
* The ] library defines {{code|$}} as its main symbol, primarily as a function that queries a web page for one or more ]s, but also with other utilities attached to it as properties like {{code|$.ajax}}. The ] library defines it similarly for querying. | |||
* In ], the dollar sign used in a tag in the web page indicates an expression will follow it. The expression that follows is .NET ], as it will work with C#, ], or any CLR supported language. | |||
* In ], the dollar sign precedes character literals. The dollar sign as a character can be written {{code|$$}}. | |||
* In ] the {{code|$}} sign is used in the ] to depict a floating currency symbol as the left most character. The default symbol is {{code|$}}; however, if the {{code|1=CURRENCY=}} or {{code|CURRENCY SIGN}} clause is specified, many other symbols can be used. | |||
* In some ]s, such as ], the {{code|$}} sign is used to represent registers. | |||
* In ] assembler, the {{code|$}} sign, when used as an address, meant the address of the instruction in which it appeared. | |||
* In ], the {{code|$}} sign is used as a statement terminator. | |||
* In ], the {{code|$}} sign is used as a subsetting operator. | |||
* In ], the {{code|$}} sign is used as a casting/padding/enumeration/conditional operator. | |||
* In ], the {{code|$}} sign is prefixed to define a variable. | |||
* In ], the {{code|$}} sign can be used to mark ] statements. | |||
===Operating systems=== | |||
* In ] and subsequently in all versions of ] (], ], ], more) and derivatives, {{code|$}} marks the end of text displayed with system function 9. CP/M developer ] never explained the choice and once pointedly remarked that he knew the reason while ] did not.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kildall|first=Gary|title=Computer Connections}}</ref> Prior uses of {{code|$}} for the "end of line" or "end of text" include ], ], the ] and ] (a known influence on CP/M), which displayed the character to confirm that the user pressed the ] to complete a line of input. | |||
* In ], {{code|$}} is appended to the share name to hide a shared folder or resource. For example, {{code|\\server\share}} will be visible to other computers on a network, while {{code|\\server\share$}} will be accessible only by explicit reference. Hiding a shared folder or resource will not alter its access permissions but may render it inaccessible to programs or other functions which rely on its visibility. Most ]s are hidden in this way. | |||
* In the ] directory access protocol, {{code|$}} is used as a line separator in various standard entry attributes such as <code>postalAddress</code>. | |||
* In the ] operating system, {{code|$}} means "system". It is appended to entities such as the names of system files, the "sender" name in messages sent by the operator, and the default names of system-created files (like compiler output) when no specific name is specified (e.g., {{code|TPF$}}, {{code|NAME$}}, etc.) | |||
* In ], {{code|$}} is used in system variables to separate the application name from the variables specific to that application. For example <code>Draw$Dir</code> specifies the directory where the <code>!Draw</code> application is located. It is also used to refer to the ] of a ]. | |||
===Applications=== | |||
* ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.pdx.edu/~stipakb/CellRefs.htm|title=Relative & Absolute Cell References in Excel|access-date=23 April 2015|archive-date=17 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317124839/http://web.pdx.edu/~stipakb/CellRefs.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and other spreadsheet software use the dollar sign ($) to denote a fixed row, fixed column reference, or an absolute cell reference. | |||
* The dollar sign introduces a subfield delimiter in ]. | |||
* {{code|$}} matches the end of a line or string in ], ], and ] and ] ]s, as well as the end of a line or the file in text editors ], ], ], ], and derivatives. | |||
==Other uses== | |||
The symbol is sometimes used derisively, in place of the letter S, to indicate greed or excess money such as in "]", "]", "]" and "]"; or supposed overt Americanisation as in "]". The dollar sign is also used intentionally to stylize names such as ], ], and ] or words such as '''{{nowrap|¥€$}}'''. In 1872, ] referred to California governor ] as {{Proper name|$tealand Landford}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company|author=Roy Morris|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1995|page=176|isbn=9780195126280}}</ref> | |||
In ] notation, a dollar sign is placed after a word to indicate that it is valid according to the ], but not according to the British word lists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tucsonscrabble.com/articles/glossary.html|title=Scrabble Glossary|publisher=Tucson Scrabble Club|access-date=2012-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830073348/http://www.tucsonscrabble.com/articles/glossary.html|archive-date=2011-08-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
A dollar symbol is used as ] for a nuclear reactor, {{val|0|ul=$}} being the threshold of slow criticality, meaning a steady reaction rate, while {{val|1|u=$}} is the threshold of ], which means a nuclear excursion or explosion.<ref>{{cite book| first1=Alvin M.| last1=Weinberg| first2=Eugene P.| last2=Wigner| title=The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors| place=Chicago| publisher=University of Chicago Press| year=1958| page=595}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sites.ntc.doe.gov/partners/tr/Training%20Textbooks/10-Nuclear%20Physics-Reactor%20Theory/4-Mod-4%20Reactor%20Operations.pdf|publisher=U. S. Department of Energy|accessdate=2022-07-25|page=16|date=n.d.|title=DOE Fundamentals: Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory: Module 4: Reactor Theory (Reactor Operations)|archive-date=27 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527101730/https://sites.ntc.doe.gov/partners/tr/Training%20Textbooks/10-Nuclear%20Physics-Reactor%20Theory/4-Mod-4%20Reactor%20Operations.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In the 1993 version of the ] $ was used as a transliteration of the Cyrillic letter Ш, in 1999 was replaced by the letter Ş. | |||
== See also == | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
== Explanatory notes == | |||
{{notelist}} | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
=== Citations === | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
=== General and cited sources === | |||
{{refbegin}} | {{refbegin}} | ||
* {{cite book | author=Cajori, Florian| title=A History of Mathematical Notations | location=New York | publisher=Dover |
* {{cite book | author=Cajori, Florian | author-link=Cajori, Florian | title=A History of Mathematical Notations | location=New York | publisher=Dover |edition=Reprint | year=1993 | isbn=0-486-67766-4 | title-link=A History of Mathematical Notations}} Contains section on the history of the dollar sign, with much documentary evidence supporting the "pesos" hypothesis. | ||
* {{cite book |last= |
* {{cite book |last=Cuhaj |first=George |title=Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money |publisher=Krause Publications |edition=28th |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-89689-939-1}} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Ovason |first=David |title=The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill |publisher=Harper Paperbacks |edition=Reprint |date=2004-11-30 |isbn=0-06-053045-6 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SGICN1DT1gsC}} | |||
{{refend}} | {{refend}} | ||
==External links== | |||
* {{Commons category-inline}} | |||
{{dollar}} | {{dollar}} | ||
{{peso}} | |||
{{Currency signs}} | {{Currency signs}} | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar Peso Sign}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 18:29, 27 December 2024
Monetary symbol used in many national currencies "$" redirects here. For the unit of currency, see Dollar. For other uses, see $ (disambiguation). "Peso sign" redirects here. For the Philippine peso sign "₱", see Philippine peso sign. For technical reasons, "$#*! My Dad Says" redirects here. For the television show, see $h*! My Dad Says. For technical reasons, ":$" redirects here. For the keyboard symbol, see List of emoticons.
$ | |
---|---|
Dollar sign | |
Other names | Peso sign |
In Unicode | U+0024 $ DOLLAR SIGN ($) |
Currency | |
Currency | Many (see dollar, peso) |
Graphical variants | |
Category |
The dollar sign, also known as the peso sign, is a currency symbol consisting of a capital ⟨S⟩ crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or depending on typeface), used to indicate the unit of various currencies around the world, including most currencies denominated "dollar" or "peso". The explicitly double-barred sign is called cifrão in the Portuguese language.
The sign is also used in several compound currency symbols, such as the Brazilian real (R$), the Nicaraguan córdoba (C$) and the United States dollar (US$): in local use, the nationality prefix is usually omitted. In countries that have other currency symbols, the US dollar is often assumed and the "US" prefix omitted.
The one- and two-stroke versions are often considered mere stylistic (typeface) variants, although in some places and epochs one of them may have been specifically assigned, by law or custom, to a specific currency. The Unicode computer encoding standard defines a single code for both.
In most English-speaking countries that use that symbol, it is placed to the left of the amount specified, e.g. "$1", read as "one dollar".
History
The symbol appears in business correspondence in the 1770s from Spanish America, the early independent U.S., British America and Britain, referring to the Spanish American peso, also known as "Spanish dollar" or "piece of eight" in British America. Those coins provided the model for the currency that the United States adopted in 1792, and for the larger coins of the new Spanish American republics, such as the Mexican peso, Argentine peso, Peruvian real, and Bolivian sol coins.
With the Coinage Act of 1792, the United States Congress created the U.S. dollar, defining it to have "the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current" but a variety of foreign coins were deemed to be legal tender until the Coinage Act of 1857 ended this status.
The earliest U.S. dollar coins did not have any dollar symbol. The first occurrence in print is claimed to be from 1790s, by a Philadelphia printer Archibald Binny, creator of the Monticello typeface. The $1 United States Note issued by the United States in 1869 included a large symbol consisting of a "U" with the right bar overlapping an "S" like a single-bar dollar sign, as well as a very small double-stroke dollar sign in the legal warning against forgery.
Earlier history of the symbol
It is still uncertain, however, how the dollar sign came to represent the Spanish American peso. There are currently several competing hypotheses:
- The most widely accepted theory holds that the sign grew out of the Spanish and Spanish American scribal abbreviation "p" for pesos. A study of late 18th- and early 19th-century manuscripts shows that the s gradually came to be written over the p, developing into a close equivalent to the "$" mark. Oliver Pollock, a wealthy Irish trader and early supporter of the American Revolution, used the abbreviation "ps", sometimes run together in a way that almost exactly resembled the dollar sign, in a letter dated 1778. There are documents showing the common use of the two-stroke version in Portugal already by 1775.
- Another hypothesis derives the sign from a depiction of the Pillars of Hercules, a classical symbol for two sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, with a ribbon wrapped around each pillar (or both pillars) in the form of an "S". This device is a support element of the Spanish coat of arms, and appeared on the most common real de ocho coins circulating at the time in the Americas and Europe; namely, those minted at the Potosí mint in Bolivia, which operated from 1573 to 1825. Indeed, one of the names used for Spanish dollars in Qing Dynasty China was 雙柱; Shuāngzhù; 'double-pillar'.
- A variant of the above theory claims that the sign comes from the mark of the mint at Potosí, where a large portion of the Spanish Empire's silver was mined. A feature on these coins were the letters "P T S I" superimposed. The core of this monogram is a (single-stroked) "$" sign.
- Yet another hypothesis notes that the English word "dollar" for the Spanish piece of eight originally came (through Dutch daalder) from Joachimsthaler or thaler, a similar large German silver coin that was widely used in Europe. It is therefore conjectured that the dollar sign derived from a symbol consisting of a superimposing S and I or J that was used to denote the German silver coin. Such symbol appears in the 1686 edition of An Introduction to Merchants' Accounts by John Collins. Alternatively, the symbol could have come from a snake and cross emblem on the thaler coins.
Less likely theories
The following theories seem to have been discredited or contradicted by documentary evidence:
- In 1937, historian James Alton James claimed that the symbol with two strokes was an adapted design of patriot Robert Morris in 1778, in letters written to Pollock.
- In 1939, H. M. Larson suggested that the sign could derive from a combination of the Greek character "psi" (ψ) and "S".
- A theory claims that the sign started off as a monogram of "US", with a narrow "U" superimposed on the "S"; the bottom part of the "U" would have been lost, producing the dollar sign with two vertical lines. This theory was mentioned in letters to Notes and Queries in 1876. Henry Towne begins his classic 1886 essay on management with this theory. This was also claimed by Ayn Rand in her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged; in her version of the theory the monogram "US" would have been used on money bags issued by the United States Mint.
- Authors T. Seijas and J. Frederick noted that the captors of slaves in Spanish territories sometimes branded enslaved people with a symbol very similar to a one-barred dollar sign. Esclavo is Spanish for "slave," and clavo means nail. A dollar sign would then be S + clavo.
- A theory often cited in Portuguese speaking countries is that the "S" part of the doubly-stroked sign is a schematic representation of the path followed by the Umayyad Caliphate general Tariq Ibn Ziyad in his conquest of the Visigoth kingdom in 711 CE, and the two strokes represent the Pillars of Hercules that he would have crossed along that path. That symbol would have been engraved in coins commemorating his victory, and then became symbolic of currency in general.
Currencies that use the dollar sign
As symbol of the currency
The numerous currencies called "dollar" use the dollar sign to express money amounts. The sign is also generally used for the many currencies called "peso" (except the Philippine peso, which uses the symbol "₱"). Within a country the dollar/peso sign may be used alone. In other cases, and to avoid ambiguity in international usage, it is usually combined with other glyphs, e.g. CA$ or Can$ for Canadian dollar. Particularly in professional contexts, the unambiguous ISO 4217 three letter code (AUD, MXN, USD, etc.) is preferred.
The dollar sign, alone or in combination with other glyphs, is or was used to denote several currencies with other names, including:
- Brazilian cruzeiro (various currencies, all defunct): ₢$, CR, Cr, NCr, etc.
- Brazilian real: R$
- Ethiopian birr (until 1976): E$
- Macanese pataca: MOP$
- Nicaraguan córdoba: C$
- Samoan tālā (a transliteration of the word dollar): $
- Tongan paʻanga: T$
- Malaya and British Borneo dollar (1957–1967): $
- Malaysian ringgit (1967–1997): $, M$, M
- South Vietnamese đồng (1953–1975): $,
Prefix or suffix
In the United States, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Pacific Island nations, and English-speaking Canada, the sign is written before the number ("$5"), even though the word is written or spoken after it ("five dollars", "cinco pesos"). In French-speaking Canada, exceptionally, the dollar symbol usually appears after the number, e.g., "5$". (The cent symbol is written after the number in most countries that use it, e.g., "5¢".)
Use in the Portuguese Empire
In Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the Portuguese Empire, the two-stroke variant of the sign (with the name cifrão (Portuguese pronunciation: [siˈfɾɐ̃w] ) was used as the thousands separator of amounts in the national currency, the real (plural "réis", abbreviated "Rs."): 123500 meant "123500 réis". This usage is attested in 1775, but may be older by a century or more. It is always written with two vertical lines: . It is the official sign of the Cape Verdean escudo (ISO 4217: CVE).
In 1911, Portugal redefined the national currency as the escudo, worth 1000 réis, and divided into 100 centavos; but the cifrão continued to be used as the decimal separator, so that 12350 meant 123.50 escudos or 123 escudos and 50 centavos. This usage ended in 2002 when the country switched to the euro. (A similar scheme to use a letter symbol instead of a decimal point is used by the RKM code in electrical engineering since 1952.)
Cape Verde, a republic and former Portuguese colony, similarly switched from the real to their local escudo and centavos in 1914, and retains the cifrão usage as decimals separator as of 2021. Local versions of the Portuguese escudo were for a time created also for other overseas colonies, including East Timor (1958–1975), Portuguese India (1958–1961), Angola (1914–1928 and 1958–1977), Mozambique (1914–1980), Portuguese Guinea (1914–1975), and São Tomé and Príncipe (1914–1977); all using the cifrão as decimals separator.
Brazil retained the real and the cifrão as thousands separator until 1942, when it switched to the Brazilian cruzeiro, with comma as the decimals separator. The dollar sign, officially with one stroke but often rendered with two, was retained as part of the currency symbol "Cr$", so one would write Cr$13,50 for 13 cruzeiros and 50 centavos.
The cifrão was formerly used by the Portuguese escudo (ISO: PTE) before its replacement by the euro and by the Portuguese Timor escudo (ISO: TPE) before its replacement by the Indonesian rupiah and the US dollar. In Portuguese and Cape Verdean usage, the cifrão is placed as a decimal point between the escudo and centavo values. The name originates in the Arabic ṣifr (صِفْر), meaning 'zero'.
Outside the Portuguese cultural sphere, the South Vietnamese đồng before 1975 used a method similar to the cifrão to separate values of đồng from its decimal subunit xu. For example, 750 meant 7 đồng and 50 xu.
One stroke vs. two strokes
See also: Pound sign § Double bar styleIn some places and at some times, the one- and two-stroke variants have been used in the same contexts to distinguish between the U.S. dollar and other local currency, such as the former Portuguese escudo.
However, such usage is not standardized, and the Unicode specification considers the two versions as graphic variants of the same symbol—a typeface design choice. Computer and typewriter keyboards usually have a single key for that sign, and many character encodings (including ASCII and Unicode) reserve a single numeric code for it. Indeed, dollar signs in the same digital document may be rendered with one or two strokes, if different computer fonts are used, but the underlying codepoint U+0024 (ASCII 3610) remains unchanged.
When a specific variant is not mandated by law or custom, the choice is usually a matter of expediency or aesthetic preference. Both versions were used in the US in the 18th century. (An 1861 Civil War-era advertisement depicts the two-stroked symbol as a snake.) The two-stroke version seems to be generally less popular today, though used in some "old-style" fonts like Baskerville.
Use in computer software
Because of its use in early American computer applications such as business accounting, the dollar sign is almost universally present in computer character sets, and thus has been appropriated for many purposes unrelated to money in programming languages and command languages.
Encoding
The dollar sign "$" has Unicode code point U+0024 (inherited from ASCII via Latin-1).
- U+0024 $ DOLLAR SIGN ($)
There are no separate encodings for one- and two-line variants. The choice is typeface-dependent, they are allographs. However, there are three other code points that originate from other East Asian standards: the Taiwanese small form variant, the CJK fullwidth form, and the Japanese emoji. The glyphs for these code points are typically larger or smaller than the primary code point, but the difference is mostly aesthetic or typographic, and the meanings of the symbols are the same.
- U+FE69 ﹩ SMALL DOLLAR SIGN
- U+FF04 $ FULLWIDTH DOLLAR SIGN
- U+1F4B2 💲 HEAVY DOLLAR SIGN
However, for usage as the special character in various computing applications (see following sections), U+0024 is typically the only code that is recognized.
Support for the two-line variant varies. As of 2019, the Unicode standard considers the distinction between one- and two-bar dollar signs a stylistic distinction between fonts, and has no separate code point for the cifrão. The symbol is not in the October 2019 "pipeline", though it has been requested formally.
Among others, the following fonts display a double-bar dollar sign for code point 0024: regular-weight Baskerville, Big Caslon, Bodoni MT, Garamond: ($)
In LaTeX, with the textcomp package installed, the cifrão () can be input using the command \textdollaroldstyle
. However, because of font substitution and the lack of a dedicated code point, the author of an electronic document who uses one of these fonts intending to represent a cifrão cannot be sure that every reader will see a double-bar glyph rather than the single barred version. Because of the continued lack of support in Unicode, a single bar dollar sign is frequently employed in its place even for official purposes. Where there is any risk of misunderstanding, the ISO 4217 three-letter acronym is used.
Programming languages
- In BASIC,
$
is appended to a variable name to define that variable’s data type as a character string, for example,H$="Hello, world!"
. In discussion, the variableH$
would be referred to as “H string.” $
is prefixed to names to define variables in the PHP language and the AutoIt automation script language, scalar variables in the Perl language (see sigil (computer programming)), and global variables in the Ruby language. In Perl programming this includes scalar elements of arrays$array
and hashes$hash{foo}
.- In Unix shells, and later in other programming languages,
$
introduces an expression that should be evaluated to yield text. Languages that have adopted this convention include Perl, JavaScript, C#, Scala, Groovy and Kotlin. Other languages, including Java and Python, use it to mark the place where the result of an expression elsewhere should be inserted into text. $
is used for defining hexadecimal constants in Pascal-like languages such as Delphi, and in some variants of assembly language, most notably, in the Motorola 6800 and 68000, and MOS Technology 6502 assembly languages.$
is used in the ALGOL 68 language to delimit transput format regions.$
is used in the TeX typesetting language to delimit mathematical regions.- In many versions of FORTRAN 66,
$
could be used as an alternative to a quotation mark for delimiting strings. - In PL/M,
$
can be used to put a visible separation between words in compound identifiers. For example,Some$Name
refers to the same thing as 'SomeName'. - In Haskell,
$
is used as a function application operator. - In an AutoHotkey script, a hotkey declared with
$
is not triggered by a 'Send' command elsewhere in the script. - The jQuery library defines
$
as its main symbol, primarily as a function that queries a web page for one or more HTML elements, but also with other utilities attached to it as properties like$.ajax
. The Prototype.js library defines it similarly for querying. - In ASP.NET, the dollar sign used in a tag in the web page indicates an expression will follow it. The expression that follows is .NET language-agnostic, as it will work with C#, VB.NET, or any CLR supported language.
- In Erlang, the dollar sign precedes character literals. The dollar sign as a character can be written
$$
. - In COBOL the
$
sign is used in the Picture clause to depict a floating currency symbol as the left most character. The default symbol is$
; however, if theCURRENCY=
orCURRENCY SIGN
clause is specified, many other symbols can be used. - In some assembly languages, such as MIPS, the
$
sign is used to represent registers. - In Honeywell 6000 series assembler, the
$
sign, when used as an address, meant the address of the instruction in which it appeared. - In CMS-2, the
$
sign is used as a statement terminator. - In R, the
$
sign is used as a subsetting operator. - In Q (programming language from Kx Systems), the
$
sign is used as a casting/padding/enumeration/conditional operator. - In Sass, the
$
sign is prefixed to define a variable. - In Svelte, the
$
sign can be used to mark reactive statements.
Operating systems
- In CP/M and subsequently in all versions of DOS (86-DOS, MS-DOS, PC DOS, more) and derivatives,
$
marks the end of text displayed with system function 9. CP/M developer Gary Kildall never explained the choice and once pointedly remarked that he knew the reason while Bill Gates did not. Prior uses of$
for the "end of line" or "end of text" include JOVIAL, CMS-2, the QED editor and DECsystem-10 (a known influence on CP/M), which displayed the character to confirm that the user pressed the escape key to complete a line of input. - In Microsoft Windows,
$
is appended to the share name to hide a shared folder or resource. For example,\\server\share
will be visible to other computers on a network, while\\server\share$
will be accessible only by explicit reference. Hiding a shared folder or resource will not alter its access permissions but may render it inaccessible to programs or other functions which rely on its visibility. Most administrative shares are hidden in this way. - In the LDAP directory access protocol,
$
is used as a line separator in various standard entry attributes such aspostalAddress
. - In the UNIVAC EXEC 8 operating system,
$
means "system". It is appended to entities such as the names of system files, the "sender" name in messages sent by the operator, and the default names of system-created files (like compiler output) when no specific name is specified (e.g.,TPF$
,NAME$
, etc.) - In RISC OS,
$
is used in system variables to separate the application name from the variables specific to that application. For exampleDraw$Dir
specifies the directory where the!Draw
application is located. It is also used to refer to the root directory of a file system.
Applications
- Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet software use the dollar sign ($) to denote a fixed row, fixed column reference, or an absolute cell reference.
- The dollar sign introduces a subfield delimiter in computer coding of library catalog records.
$
matches the end of a line or string in sed, grep, and POSIX and Perl regular expressions, as well as the end of a line or the file in text editors ed, ex, vi, pico, and derivatives.
Other uses
The symbol is sometimes used derisively, in place of the letter S, to indicate greed or excess money such as in "Micro$oft", "Di$ney", "Chel$ea" and "GW$"; or supposed overt Americanisation as in "$ky". The dollar sign is also used intentionally to stylize names such as A$AP Rocky, Ke$ha, and Ty Dolla $ign or words such as ¥€$. In 1872, Ambrose Bierce referred to California governor Leland Stanford as $tealand Landford.
In Scrabble notation, a dollar sign is placed after a word to indicate that it is valid according to the North American word lists, but not according to the British word lists.
A dollar symbol is used as unit of reactivity for a nuclear reactor, 0 $ being the threshold of slow criticality, meaning a steady reaction rate, while 1 $ is the threshold of prompt criticality, which means a nuclear excursion or explosion.
In the 1993 version of the Turkmen Latin alphabet $ was used as a transliteration of the Cyrillic letter Ш, in 1999 was replaced by the letter Ş.
See also
- Euro sign
- Indian rupee sign
- Pound sign
- Ruble sign
- Rupee sign
- Spanish dollar
- Turkish lira sign
- Yen and yuan sign
- Won sign
Explanatory notes
- As of April 2022, HTML5 is the only version of HTML that has a named entity for the dollar sign.
References
Citations
- Kinnaird, Lawrence (July 1976). "The Western Fringe of Revolution". The Western Historical Quarterly. 7 (3): 259. doi:10.2307/967081. JSTOR 967081.
- Popular Science (February 1930). "Origin of Dollar Sign is Traced to Mexico". Popular Science: 59. ISSN 0161-7370.
- "Section 9 of the Coinage Act of 1792". Memory.loc.gov. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- Meredith, Stephanie (6 April 2017). "Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 | U.S. Mint". United States Mint. p. 3. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- Martin, David A. (1977). "The Changing Role of Foreign Money in the United States, 1782-1857". The Journal of Economic History. 37 (4): 1009. ISSN 0022-0507.
- ^ Hephzibah Anderson (2019): "The curious origins of the dollar symbol Archived 12 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine". Online article at the BBC website, dated 29 May 2019. Accessed on 2021-08-12.
- Reverse of $1 United States Note (Greenback), series of 1869
- ^ Cajori, Florian (1993) . A History of Mathematical Notations. Vol. 2. Courier Corporation. pp. 15–29. ISBN 9780486677668.
- Aiton, Arthur S.; Wheeler, Benjamin W. (May 1931). "The First American Mint". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 11 (2): 198. doi:10.1215/00182168-11.2.198. JSTOR 2506275.
- ^ Nussbaum, Arthur (1957). A History of the Dollar. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 56.
The foreign coins remained in circulation , and the more important among them, especially the Spanish (including the Mexican) dollars, were declared by Congress on February 9, 1793, to be legal tender. The dollar sign, $, is connected with the peso, contrary to popular belief, which considers it to be an abbreviation of 'U.S.' The two parallel lines represented one of the many abbreviations of 'P,' and the 'S' indicated the plural. The abbreviation '$.' was also used for the peso, and is still used in Argentina.
- Riesco Terrero, Ángel (1983). Diccionario de abreviaturas hispanas de los siglos XIII al XVIII: Con un apendice de expresiones y formulas juridico-diplomaticas de uso corriente. Salamanca: Imprenta Varona. p. 350. ISBN 84-300-9090-8.
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "What is the origin of the $ sign?". Resources: FAQs. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
- ^ Joshua D. Rothman (2018): "The Curious Origins of the Dollar Sign Archived 12 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine" Online article on the We're History website, dated 2018-04-01. Accessed on 2021-08-12.
- ^ João Joseph Du Beux (1775): Receipt of 270$000 Rs. Archived 12 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine for purchase by of 50 volumes of the Acta Santorum by the College of the Carmo of Coimbra. Quote: "Recebemos a quantia de Duzentos Settenta mil reis por Clareza passamos este Coimbra 15 de Março de 1775. São 270000 Rs". Cartório do Colégio do Carmo, Maço 35, n.o 17. apud ALMEIDA, Manuel Lopes in "Livro, livreiros, impressores em documentos da Universidade", Arquivo de Bibliografia Portuguesa, ano X–XII, Atlântida, Coimbra, 1964–66, n o 37–48.
- ^ Seijas, Tatiana and Jake Frederick (2017). Spanish Dollars and Sister Republics: The Money That Made Mexico and the United States. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9781538100462.
- Ulrich Theobald (2016): "Qing Period Money: Foreign Silver 'Dollars' Archived 9 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine". Online article in the website ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art, dated Apr 13, 2016. Accessed on 2021-08-14.
- Sandra Choron and Harry Choron (2011): Money Everything You Never Knew About Your Favorite Thing to Find, Save, Spend & Covet Archived 5 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine page 68. ISBN 9781452105598
- Florence Edler de Roover. Concerning the Ancestry of the Dollar Sign. - Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. Vol. 19, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), pp. 63-64 Archived 26 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- James, James Alton (1970) . Robert Morris: The Life and Times of an Unknown Patriot. Freeport: Books for Libraries Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-8369-5527-9.
- James, James Alton (1929). "'Robert Morris, Financier of the Revolution in the West'". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review.
- Larson, Henrietta M. (October 1939). "Note on Our Dollar Sign". Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. 13 (4): 57–58. doi:10.2307/3111350. JSTOR 3111350.
- Towne, Henry R. (1886). "Engineer as an Economist". in Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York City: American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- (2018): "Where did the dollar sign come from? Archived 12 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine" Online article of the History channel website, dated 2018-08-22. Accessed on 2021-08-12.
- (2015): "Origem do Cifrão". Note on the website of the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (Brazilian Mint). Accessed on 2021-08-12.
- "Banque de dépannage linguistique - Somme d'argent". Office québécois de la langue française. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ Eduardo Marín Silva (22 July 2019). "Currency signs missing in Unicode" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- (1960): Price "Cr$ 15,00" on the front cover Archived 14 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine of the 1960-05-07 issue of O Cruzeiro magazine, reproduced on the Muzeez website on 2016-12-105. Accessed on 2021-08-14.
- Lisbon-tourist-guide.com. "Portuguese Escudo Archived 2 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine." 2008.
- ^ Banco de Cabo Verde. "Moedas Archived 2011-01-22 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- Casa da Moeda. "Origem do Cifrão" (in Portuguese). Casadamoeda.gov.br. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ "C0 Controls and Basic Latin | Range: 0000–007F" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. Unicode Consortium.
- "24 Character entity references in HTML 4". www.w3.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
The following sections present the complete lists of character entity references
- "8.5 Named character references". Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
dollar; U+00024 $
- "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". Unicode Consortium. 11 October 2019. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- Banco Central do Brasil. "Currency table. Archived 14 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine" Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
- Kildall, Gary. Computer Connections.
- "Relative & Absolute Cell References in Excel". Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- Roy Morris (1995). Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company. Oxford University Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780195126280.
- "Scrabble Glossary". Tucson Scrabble Club. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- Weinberg, Alvin M.; Wigner, Eugene P. (1958). The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 595.
- "DOE Fundamentals: Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory: Module 4: Reactor Theory (Reactor Operations)" (PDF). U. S. Department of Energy. n.d. p. 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
General and cited sources
- Cajori, Florian (1993). A History of Mathematical Notations (Reprint ed.). New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-67766-4. Contains section on the history of the dollar sign, with much documentary evidence supporting the "pesos" hypothesis.
- Cuhaj, George (2009). Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money (28th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-89689-939-1.
- Ovason, David (30 November 2004). The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill (Reprint ed.). Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-053045-6.
External links
- Media related to Dollar sign at Wikimedia Commons
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