pound sterling

English

Alternative forms

GBP
£

Etymology

Display showing a pile of sterlings balanced against a pound weight

The basic unit of currency in medieval England was the silver penny or sterling, weighing ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a tower pound. 240 of these coins made a "pound of sterlings". This term (shortened to "pound sterling" in later usage) continued to be used for a sum of 240 pence even after the sterling had ceased to circulate. The modern pound sterling is equivalent to 100 new pence.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/
Audio (US): (file)

Noun

pound sterling (plural pounds sterling)

The currency of the United Kingdom.
- 1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547
  Andrew Houſtoun and Adam Muſhet, being Tackſmen of the Excize, did Imploy Thomas Rue to be their Collector, and gave him a Sallary of 30. pound Sterling for a year.

Translations

currency of the UK

Albanian: sprovuar funt m
Arabic: جُنَيْه m (junayh), جُنَيْه إِسْتَرْلِينِيّ m (junayh ʔistarlīniyy)
Armenian: ֆունտ ստեռլինգ (funt steṙling)
Azerbaijani: funt sterlinq
Belarusian: фунт стэ́рлінгаў m (funt stérlinhaŭ)
Bulgarian: брита́нска ли́ра f (británska líra)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 英鎊 / 英镑 (zh) (Yīngbàng)
Czech: libra (cs) f, britská libra f, libra šterlinků f
Danish: britiske pund, pund
Dutch: pond sterling (nl), pond (nl)
Estonian: naelsterling
Faroese: pund n
Finnish: punta (fi), Englannin punta
French: livre sterling (fr) m
Galician: libra esterlina f
Georgian: გირვანქა სტერლინგი (girvanka sṭerlingi)
German: Pfund Sterling n, Pfund (de) n
Greek: λίρα στερλίνα f (líra sterlína)
Hebrew: לירה שטרלינג
Hindi: पाउंड स्टर्लिंग (pāuṇḍ sṭarliṅg), पाउंड (hi) (pāuṇḍ)
Hungarian: font sterling (hu)
Icelandic: breskt pund, pund (is)
Indonesian: paun (id)
Irish: punt steirling
Italian: lira sterlina f
Japanese: ポンド (ja) (pondo)
Korean: 파운드 (ko) (paundeu)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: sterlîn (ku)
Latvian: sterliņu mārciņa f
Lithuanian: svaras sterlingų m
Macedonian: британска фунта f (britanska funta)
Manx: punt Sostynagh m
Mongolian: фунт стерлинг (funt sterling)
Ngazidja Comorian: pauni class 9/10
Norwegian:
Bokmål: britisk pund, pund (no)
Persian: پوند استرلینگ (pond esterling)
Pitcairn-Norfolk: pownd sturleng
Polish: funt (pl) m, funt sterling m, funt szterling m, sterling (pl) m, szterling m
Portuguese: libra esterlina f
Romanian: liră sterlină (ro) f
Russian: фунт сте́рлингов (ru) m (funt stérlingov), фунт (ru) m (funt)
Scottish Gaelic: punnd sasannach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: британска фунта f

Roman: britanska funta f
Slovak: libra f, britská libra f, libra šterlingov f
Slovene: funt šterling m
Spanish: libra esterlina (es) f
Swedish: pund (sv)
Thai: ปอนด์ (bpon)
Turkish: İngiliz sterlini
Ukrainian: фунт сте́рлінгів m (funt stérlinhiv)
Uzbek: funt sterling
Vietnamese: bảng Anh