Currency Symbols Around the World

Every major currency in the world has at least one Unicode code point. From the universal dollar sign $ that predates Unicode itself to the recently added Manat ₼ and Bitcoin ₿, this guide provides a comprehensive reference to all Unicode currency symbols: their code points, HTML entities, keyboard shortcuts, and a brief history of each symbol's origin and design.

Quick Copy-Paste Table

The Currency Symbols Block (U+20A0–U+20CF)

Unicode 1.0 introduced the dedicated Currency Symbols block at U+20A0. It was later extended. The block is designed to hold symbols that cannot be adequately represented by existing Latin or CJK characters.

Major Live Currencies

€ Euro — U+20AC

Designed in 1996 by Alain Billiet of Belgium, selected from 30 submissions. The two horizontal bars represent stability; the "C" shape references Europe. The Euro replaced the ECU (U+20A0) in everyday use.

U+20AC  €  EURO SIGN
Windows:  Alt+0128 or Ctrl+Alt+E (most European keyboard layouts)
macOS:    Option+Shift+2 (US layout) or dedicated key (EU layouts)

£ Pound Sterling — U+00A3

An ornate "L" (from Latin libra = scales/pound weight) with one or two horizontal crossbars. One of the most recognisable currency symbols in the world. Encodes at U+00A3 in Latin-1 Supplement — not in the Currency Symbols block — because it was already present in ISO 8859-1.

U+00A3  £  POUND SIGN
Windows:  Alt+0163
macOS:    Option+3 (US layout) or Shift+3 (UK layout)

¥ Yen / Yuan — U+00A5

A "Y" with two horizontal bars. Used for both the Japanese Yen (JP¥) and Chinese Yuan (CN¥). The character itself is ambiguous; locale context determines which currency it represents. For unambiguous representation, use the full currency name or ISO 4217 codes (JPY / CNY).

U+00A5  ¥  YEN SIGN
Windows:  Alt+0165
macOS:    Option+Y (US layout)

₹ Indian Rupee — U+20B9

Designed by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, adopted officially in 2010. A Devanagari "Ra" overlaid with two horizontal bars — the top bar references the Roman letter "R" for Rupee. Added to Unicode 6.0 (2010).

₩ Korean Won — U+20A9

A "W" with two horizontal bars. The Won (원) replaced the Hwan in 1962. The Unicode symbol was added early in the standard's history due to South Korea's active involvement in Unicode standardisation.

₽ Russian Ruble — U+20BD

A "P" (Cyrillic "er") with one horizontal bar. The symbol was officially adopted in 2013 after a public competition. Added to Unicode 7.0 (2014).

₺ Turkish Lira — U+20BA

An anchored, stylised "L" with two ascending strokes suggesting upward economic movement. Officially adopted in 2012. Added to Unicode 6.2.

₿ Bitcoin — U+20BF

A bold "B" with two vertical strokes extending above and below — similar to the dollar sign's visual grammar. Added to Unicode 10.0 (2017). Note that many crypto-specific applications use the Bitcoin logo font rather than the Unicode character for full colour rendering.

Historic and Archaic Currencies

These symbols represent currencies no longer in circulation but preserved in Unicode for backward compatibility with existing documents.

Special Purpose Currency Characters

¤ Generic Currency Sign — U+00A4

Called the "scarab" or "currency sign", this is a placeholder character that represents an unspecified currency. It was used in early computing to indicate "currency in the current locale". In modern usage it is mostly obsolete, having been superseded by locale-aware formatting APIs.

¢ Cent Sign — U+00A2

The cent (one-hundredth of a dollar) has its own Unicode character. In the US, it appears in retail pricing ($0.99 vs 99¢). Less commonly used in digital contexts today since most systems just write 0.99 or $0.99.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows

macOS

For ₹, ₩, ₽, ₿ and other modern currency symbols, use the Character Viewer (Ctrl+Cmd+Space) and search the currency name.

Developer Notes

HTML and CSS

Always use the HTML entity or numeric reference for currency symbols in HTML to ensure correct encoding:

<!-- Recommended -->
<span class="price">&#x20AC;4.99</span>

<!-- Also fine if the document is UTF-8 encoded -->
<span class="price">€4.99</span>

Ensure your <meta charset="UTF-8"> is set. Without it, characters above U+00FF can corrupt.

CSS content property

.price::before {
  content: "AC"; /* € Euro */
}

Note: CSS content uses the hex code point directly, without the U+ prefix.

Python locale-aware formatting

import locale
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, "en_US.UTF-8")
formatted = locale.currency(1234.56, grouping=True)
# "$1,234.56"

JavaScript Intl.NumberFormat

const formatter = new Intl.NumberFormat("de-DE", {
  style: "currency",
  currency: "EUR",
});
console.log(formatter.format(1234.56)); // "1.234,56 €"

Summary

Unicode currency symbols span three millennia of monetary history — from the Roman libra (£) to the Bitcoin ₿. The dedicated Currency Symbols block (U+20A0–U+20CF) contains modern additions from ₦ (1993) to ₿ (2017). For web development, the most important symbols are $, £, €, ¥, ₹, ₩, ₽, and ₿. Always prefer CSS/JavaScript Intl APIs for locale-aware formatting, and use Unicode characters or HTML entities for static display. Avoid representing currency with font substitutions or images — the Unicode character exists precisely for this purpose.