pound sterling

pound sterling
pound2 (def. 3).
[1625-35]

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money
      the basic monetary unit of Great Britain (United Kingdom), divided (since 1971) decimally into 100 new pence. The term is derived from the fact that, about 775, silver coins known as “sterlings” were issued in the Saxon kingdoms, 240 of them being minted from a pound of silver, the weight of which was probably about equal to the later troy pound. Hence large payments came to be reckoned in “pounds of sterlings,” a phrase later shortened to “pounds sterling.” After the Norman Conquest the pound was divided for accounting purposes into 20 shillings and into 240 pennies, or pence. In medieval Latin documents the words libra, solidus, and denarius were used to denote the pound, shilling, and penny, which gave rise to the use of the symbols £, s., and d.

      On Feb. 15, 1971, the pound sterling was officially decimalized into 100 new pence. The symbol £ was retained for the pound sterling; the letter p. was chosen for the new penny.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pound Sterling —   [paʊnd stəːlɪȖ, englisch], Währungseinheit, Pfund …   Universal-Lexikon

  • pound sterling — n [singular] the standard unit of money in Britain, which is divided into 100 pence …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • pound sterling — noun singular the official name for the unit of money used in the U.K …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Pound sterling — GBP redirects here. For other uses, see GBP (disambiguation). Pound sterling Peuns sterling (Cornish) Punt steirling (Irish) Punt Sostynagh …   Wikipedia

  • Pound sterling — Livre sterling Pour les articles homonymes, voir Livre et Sterling. Unité monétaire moderne actuelle livre sterling …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pound Sterling — Pfund Sterling Land: Vereinigtes Königreich Unterteilung: 100 Pence ISO 4217 Code: GBP Abkürzung: £ Wechselkurs: (17. März 2009) 1 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • pound sterling — noun the basic unit of money in Great Britain and Northern Ireland; equal to 100 pence • Syn: ↑British pound, ↑pound, ↑British pound sterling, ↑quid • Hypernyms: ↑British monetary unit • Part Meronyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • pound sterling — pound′ ster′ling n. num pound II, 3) • Etymology: 1625–35 …   From formal English to slang

  • pound sterling — noun see pound I …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • pound sterling — noun /paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/ The currency of the United Kingdom …   Wiktionary

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