Pound Sign £

£ (U+A3) is a standard Unicode character that you can copy and paste anywhere text is accepted. This page provides a concise reference with safe tips, internal links, and practical guidance so you can use it reliably across apps and platforms.

What it is and where it’s used: Pound Sign is part of the Symbols family (block: Latin-1 Supplement). If you need styled or decorative alternatives, try our Fancy Text tool to generate compatible text that works in most modern interfaces.

History & usage: The Pound sign is a currency symbol used for the pound. It has the codepoint U+00A3, shown as hex A3. It sits in the Latin-1 Supplement block and uses the Common script. Its purpose is to mark monetary units in prices and finance. The symbol appears in many kinds of documents, from receipts to financial reports. It is read as the unit for pounds in markets that use the symbol. Its form and placement can differ depending on local rules. Some countries place the symbol before the amount; others place it after. Spacing and typography vary by locale and software. The symbol travels with other currency signs in calculators and charts. It has a long history in writing money, and it remains common in everyday pricing. In digital text, software supports the U+00A3 code so the sign appears consistently. This makes it easier to show prices clearly across different regions. Overall, the Pound sign helps readers identify monetary values quickly in many contexts.

Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+A3 in many development tools or editors. Some operating systems provide a character viewer or input palette that lets you search by name or code and insert the glyph into documents.

Display and fallback: if you see an empty box (tofu) or a placeholder rectangle, the active font might not include this codepoint. Switching to a font with broader Unicode coverage or using a fallback font usually fixes the issue. On the web, ensure the page’s font stack includes a general‑purpose fallback.

Related references: browse the Categories for similar characters. When choosing a symbol, prefer the official codepoint for semantic clarity and better compatibility with search, copy, and accessibility tooling.

See our category page for related symbols.