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Origin of the dollar sign

Origin of the dollar sign

$” is a symbol of the dollar sign.

The origin of “$” can be traced back to the early 16th century, when Spain minted a silver dollar called “PESO” (peso). This silver dollar has a crown and royal emblem (lion and castle) on one side and two pillars on the other. According to Western mythology, they are the pillars of Hercules the Great, representing the peaks on both sides of the Dark Gorge of Gibraltar. According to legend, a long time ago, Europe and Africa, connected with each other, were later pulled apart by Hercules. In 1732, Mexico City used a machine to cast a “double-column silver dollar” with a pattern similar to “PKSO”. Only the pattern of the east and west hemispheres is added between the two columns, and each of the two columns has a figure curled into a “$$” shape. After a long time, people regarded “$” as the symbol of silver dollar. Today, many countries in the world use “$” as their national currency symbol .

There are many theories about the origin of this dollar sign, two of which are more common. One theory is that the symbol is formed by placing a narrower U over a wider S, so it represents the dollar sign for the United States . Another version points out that it is an evolution of PS superposition writing. PS is the abbreviation of Pesos, a round coin in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries. This coin was used nationwide until the official establishment of the Mint in the United States in 1974. The U.S. government later recognized the $ symbol as a unit of the new currency , the one dollar. When writing, put $ in front of the number. For example, $1 should be written as $1, and $50 should be written as $50