Money is weird. You probably use the abbreviation for pounds sterling every single day without actually thinking about why a capital "L" with a strike through it represents British currency. If you’re typing it out on a keyboard, maybe you just hunt for the symbol or use "GBP" when you're transferring money on an app. It's one of those things that feels permanent, yet the history behind it is a messy mix of Roman tax laws, medieval weight scales, and a very slow evolution of the English language.
Most people assume the £ symbol is just a fancy "P" for pounds. It isn’t. Not even close.
Where the abbreviation for pounds sterling actually comes from
The story starts with the Roman libra pondo. In Latin, libra means scales or a balance. Pondo means weight. When the Romans occupied Britain, they brought their units of measurement with them, and the "libra" stuck around long after the Roman Empire collapsed. Eventually, the English shortened libra pondo to just "pound" for the weight, but kept the letter "L" for the currency.
That’s why the abbreviation for pounds sterling is £. It’s a literal cursive "L."
The horizontal bar—or sometimes two bars—running through the middle of the L is a traditional "symbol of abbreviation" used by medieval scribes. They did this all the time to show that a single letter stood for a whole word. Think of it like a shorthand code from the year 1200 that we just never bothered to update. It’s remarkably durable. We’ve changed the monarchy, the government, and even the material the notes are printed on, but that Roman "L" remains.
Sterling vs. Pound: What's the difference?
You'll hear people use these interchangeably, but they aren't exactly the same thing. "Sterling" is the name of the currency itself—the "species." The "pound" is the unit of that currency. If you were being incredibly pedantic, you’d say you have a pound of sterling.
The word "sterling" likely comes from the Old English steorra, meaning "star." Some of the earliest Norman pennies had tiny stars on them. Others think it comes from "Easterling," referring to North German merchants who were famous for the purity of their silver. Whatever the case, when you see the abbreviation for pounds sterling in a formal banking context, it’s almost always written as GBP.
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The modern alphabetic code: GBP
In the world of international finance, symbols like £ don't work very well. Computers used to struggle with non-standard characters, and even today, if you’re moving money between a bank in London and a bank in Tokyo, you need a code that is universally recognized. This is where ISO 4217 comes in.
ISO 4217 is the international standard for currency codes. For the UK, that code is GBP.
- GB stands for Great Britain (the country code).
- P stands for Pound.
It’s clean. It’s boring. It’s functional. If you are looking at a stock ticker or a currency exchange board at an airport, you’ll see GBP more often than the £ sign. Honestly, it’s a bit less romantic than the ornate £ symbol, but it prevents a lot of expensive mistakes in global trade. You don't want a computer accidentally confusing a pound sign with a dollar sign because of a glitch in the font rendering.
What about the "quid"?
If you’re hanging out in a pub in Manchester or a cafe in London, you aren’t going to hear people talking about "sterling" or "GBP." You’re going to hear "quid."
"That'll be ten quid, mate."
There is no official abbreviation for pounds sterling that uses the word quid, but it is the most common slang term in the UK. The origin is a bit murky. The most popular theory is that it comes from the Latin phrase quid pro quo, which translates to "something for something." It makes sense in a transactional way. Another theory points to Quidhampton, a town that once housed a Royal Mint paper mill, though that's generally considered a bit of a "folk etymology" by historians.
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How to type the pound symbol (even if you don't have a UK keyboard)
This is a common frustration for people outside the UK. If you’re using a US keyboard, the £ symbol isn't usually visible. You have to use "Alt codes" or specific shortcuts.
On a Mac, it’s usually Option + 3.
On a Windows PC, you hold Alt and type 0163 on the number pad.
If you’re on a smartphone, you usually just hold down the dollar sign ($) and a menu will pop up showing other currency symbols. It’s a weirdly hidden piece of tech for one of the world’s most traded currencies.
The death of the LSD system
Before 1971, the abbreviation for pounds sterling was part of a much more complicated system known as £sd (or LSD). No, not the drug. It stood for librae, solidi, denarii.
- £ (librae) = Pounds
- s (solidi) = Shillings
- d (denarii) = Pence
It was a base-12 and base-20 system. There were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. This meant there were 240 pence in a single pound. If that sounds like a nightmare for doing math, that's because it was. On February 15, 1971—known as "Decimal Day"—the UK switched to a base-10 system.
The "d" for pence was dropped and replaced with "p." That’s why British people call pennies "p." You’ll hear "It costs 50p" (pronounced fifty-pee). The "s" for shilling disappeared entirely because the shilling was abolished.
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Is the pound symbol at risk of disappearing?
With the rise of digital banking and cryptocurrency, some people think traditional currency symbols are on their way out. When you look at a crypto wallet, everything is abbreviated with three or four letters (BTC, ETH, SOL). In that environment, "GBP" feels more modern than "£."
But the British are nothing if not protective of their heritage. The £ symbol is more than just an abbreviation for pounds sterling; it’s a brand. It represents the Bank of England, which has been around since 1694. It represents the fact that the UK kept its own currency while most of Europe switched to the Euro (€).
Even within the UK, there are variations. In Scotland, three different banks—the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale Bank—all issue their own banknotes. They all use the £ symbol, but the designs are wildly different. It can be confusing for tourists who try to spend a Scottish ten-pound note in a small shop in London, only to have the clerk look at it like it’s Monopoly money. (For the record, it is legal currency, even if some shops are weird about it.)
Nuances you probably didn't know
Most people put the symbol before the number: £10. However, in some older documents or specific accounting styles, you might see the abbreviation used differently.
There's also the "guinea." While not a formal abbreviation you'll see on a modern price tag, the guinea still exists in the world of horse racing and high-end art auctions. A guinea was worth £1 and 1 shilling (£1.05 in today’s money). It was considered a more "gentlemanly" amount. Even though the physical guinea coin hasn't been minted in centuries, some auctions still bid in guineas, though the final invoice is paid in pounds. It's a weird quirk of British tradition that refuses to die.
Practical steps for using pound abbreviations correctly
If you're writing for a global audience or handling international business, here's how to handle the abbreviation for pounds sterling without looking like an amateur.
- Use GBP for clarity: In any context where multiple "pounds" might exist (like the Lebanese pound or the Egyptian pound), always use the ISO code GBP. This is non-negotiable in contracts or financial spreadsheets.
- The symbol goes first: Unlike some European currencies where the symbol follows the amount (e.g., 10 €), the pound sign always precedes the number (£10). There is no space between the symbol and the digits.
- Lowercase "p" for pence: If you're writing about an amount less than a pound, use a lowercase "p" after the number (75p). Don't use the £ symbol and the "p" at the same time—writing £0.75p is redundant and technically incorrect.
- Avoid using "L" on its own: While the symbol comes from the letter L, using a plain capital L to represent money is long obsolete and will just confuse people. Stick to £ or GBP.
The British pound remains one of the "big four" currencies in the global reserve, alongside the US Dollar, the Euro, and the Japanese Yen. Understanding its abbreviations isn't just a history lesson; it's a necessity for anyone navigating the modern economy. Whether you're a traveler trying to figure out a menu or a business owner settling an invoice, knowing your £ from your GBP keeps things moving smoothly.
Actionable Insight: If you are setting up an e-commerce store or a billing system, always offer the option to display "GBP" alongside the £ symbol. This reduces "cart abandonment" from international customers who might be unsure if the £ sign refers to British Pounds or another local currency using a similar symbol. For digital documents, ensure your encoding is set to UTF-8 to prevent the £ sign from turning into a weird jumble of characters like "£."