Pound (currency)

As a unit of currency, the term pound originates from the value of a Troy pound weight of high purity silver, and is or was the currency unit of a number of countries:

• Cyprus
• Egypt
• Gibraltar
• Lebanon
• Malta
• Republic of Ireland - see Irish Punt
• United Kingdom - see Pound Sterling

The symbol for the pound, particularly with respect to the pound sterling legal tender in the UK and her possessions, and the ROI punt, is a script capital letter L pierced horizontally with an endash or an equal: £ The same symbol was used in Italy for the lira before its replacement by the euro.

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