Cifrão
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into dollar sign. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2021. |
 | |
|---|---|
Cifrão | |
| In Unicode | Not in Unicode |
| Currency | |
| Currency | Cape Verdean escudo, Portuguese escudo (pre-euro) |
| Related | |
| See also | Dollar sign |
 Category | |
The cifrão (Portuguese pronunciation: [siˈfɾɐ̃w̃] (
listen)) is a currency sign similar to the dollar sign but always written with two vertical lines: . It is the official sign of the Cape Verdean escudo (ISO 4217: CVE).
It was formerly used by the Portuguese escudo (ISO: PTE) before its replacement by the euro and by the Portuguese Timor escudo (ISO: TPE) before its replacement by the Indonesian rupiah and the US dollar.[1] In Portuguese and Cape Verdean usage, the cifrão is placed as a decimal point between the escudo and centavo values.[2] The name originates in the Arabic sifr (صِفْر), meaning 'zero'.[3]
Encoding[edit]
Support for the symbol varies. As of 2019,[update] the Unicode standard considers the distinction between one- and two-bar dollar signs a stylistic distinction between fonts, and has no separate code point for the cifrão. The symbol is not in the October 2019 'pipeline',[4] but appears to be under active consideration.[5]
The following fonts display a double-bar dollar sign for code point 0024:[citation needed] regular-weight Baskerville, Big Caslon, Bodoni MT, Bradley Hand ITC, Brush Script MT, Garamond, STFangsong, STKaiti, and STSong ($).
In LaTeX, with the textcomp package installed, the cifrão () can be input using the command \textdollaroldstyle.
However, because of font substitution and the lack of a dedicated code point, the author of an electronic document who uses one of these fonts intending to represent a cifrão cannot be sure that every reader will see a double-bar glyph rather than the single barred version.
Because of the continued lack of support in Unicode, a single bar dollar sign is frequently employed in its place even for official purposes.[2][6] Where there is any risk of misunderstanding, the ISO 4217 three letter acronym is used.
Other uses[edit]
In Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile, it was used for dollars, to distinguish from local currency which used the peso sign, a single-barred ⟨$⟩. However, the present convention in these countries is to specify USD (United States dollars) after the value.
See also[edit]
- RKM code (a similar scheme)
References[edit]
- ^ Lisbon-tourist-guide.com. "Portuguese Escudo." 2008.
- ^ a b Banco de Cabo Verde. "Moedas Archived 2011-01-22 at the Wayback Machine." Accessed 25 Feb 2011.
- ^ Casa da Moeda. "Origem do Cifrão". Casadamoeda.gov.br. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
- ^ "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". Unicode Consortium. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
- ^ Eduardo Marín Silva (2019-07-22). "Currency signs missing in Unicode" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
- ^ Banco Central do Brasil. "Currency table." Accessed 24 Feb 2011.
