Pound (currency)

Pound is a name of various units of currency. It is used in some countries today and previously was used in many others. The English word "pound" derives from the Latin expression lībra pondō, "a pound by weight", in which lībra means 'scale' or 'balance' and pondō means 'pound' or 'weight'. The currency's symbol is '£', a stylised form of the blackletter 'L' (${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {L}}}$) (from libra), crossed to indicate abbreviation.

The term was adopted in England from the weight of silver used to make 240 pennies, and eventually spread to British colonies all over the world. Although silver penny mintage began seven centuries earlier, the first pound coin was minted under Henry VII in 1489.