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Won sign

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Won sign
In UnicodeU+20A9 WON SIGN
Currency
CurrencySouth Korean won
North Korean won
Old Korean won
Graphical variants
U+FFE6 FULLWIDTH WON SIGN
Category

The won sign ⟨₩⟩, is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won.

Appearance

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Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the center. Some fonts display the won sign with two horizontal lines, and others with only one horizontal line. Both forms are used when handwritten.

Encoding

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The Unicode code point is U+20A9 WON SIGN: this is valid for either appearance. Additionally, there is a full width character at U+FFE6 FULLWIDTH WON SIGN (in the block halfwidth and fullwidth forms).

Microsoft Windows

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In Microsoft Windows code page 949, the position 0x5C (backslash) is also used for the won sign.[1]

In Korean versions of Windows, many fonts (including system fonts) display the backslash character as the won sign. This also applies to the directory separator character (for example, C:₩Program Files₩) and the escape character(₩n). Most Korean keyboards input 0x5C when the won sign key is pressed,[dubiousdiscuss] so the Unicode letters are rarely used.[clarification needed]

The same issue (of dual use of a code point) occurs with the yen sign in Japanese versions of Windows.

MacOS

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In macOS, the won sign key inputs U+20A9 WON SIGN only when in Hangul input mode.

Fictional use

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In fiction, it is used for the woolong, a fictional currency in anime by Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy and Carole & Tuesday), and for "Kinzcash", the currency of the online game Webkinz.

References

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  1. ^ "When is a backslash not a backslash?". archives.miloush.net.

See also

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