$

See also: Appendix:Variations of "s", ＄, ﹩, Ֆ, ֆ, and ₴

Character	$
Unicode name	DOLLAR SIGN
Code point	U+0024
Unicode block	Basic Latin
← # [U+0023] [U+0025] % →

Translingual

Etymology

$ appears to have evolved ca 1775 in the United States from a common abbreviation for pesos, also known as piastres or pieces of eight, a P/raised-S ligature P^S that passed through a stage resembling ֆ. It was used in the US before the adoption of the dollar in 1785.

Noun

$

1. (used everywhere except in the Philippines) Abbreviation of peso.
2. Abbreviation of dollar.

Derived terms

• ﹩ (small form variant)

Letter

$

1. (figuratively) A substitute for the letter S or a space or hyphen used as a symbol of (perceived) greedy business practices.

   "Micro$oft Window$"

Symbol

$

1. (programming) Prefix indicating a variable in some languages, like Perl, PHP, shell scripts.
2. (programming) Suffix indicating a string in BASIC.
3. (programming) Prefix indicating a hexadecimal constant in Pascal.
4. (programming) End of line or end of input

Usage notes

When used as a currency symbol, $ precedes the number it qualifies, despite being pronounced second (in English). For example, “$1” is read as “one dollar” not “dollar one”.

See also

Currency signs

؋ – afghani ฿ – baht ¢ – cent ₡ – colón ₵ – cedi $ – dollar ₫ – dong ֏ - dram € – euro ƒ – florin (also called guilder and gulden) ₲ – guarani

₴ – hryvnia ₭ – kip ₺ – lira (in Turkey) ₼ – Azerbaijani manat ₥ – mill ₦ – naira ₱ – peso £ – pound ﷼ – riyal ៛ – riel ރ – rufiyaa

₨ – rupee ௹ – rupee ₹ – Indian rupee ৲ or ৳ – taka (in Bangladesh) ૱ – rupee (in Gujarat) ₪ – new shekel ₸ – tenge ₮ – tugrik ₩ – won ¥ – yen

Formerly used currency signs

₳ – austral ₠ – ECU (European Currency Unit) ₢ – cruzeiro ₯ – drachma

₣ – franc ₤ – lira ₶ – Livres Tournois ℳ – mark

₧ – peseta ₰ – pfennig ₷ – spesmilo