Pound sterling

:GBP redirects here. For other uses, see GBP (disambiguation).

Subdivisions

One pound is divided into 100 pence, the singular of which is "penny". The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p is often pronounced "fifty pee" rather than "fifty pence".

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Prior to decimalisation in 1971, each pound was divided into 240 pence — although it was usually expressed as being divided into twenty shillings, with each shilling equal to twelve pence. The symbol for the shilling was "/" or "s" — not from the first letter of the word, but rather from the Latin word solidus. The symbol for the penny was "d", from the Latin word denarius. (The solidus and denarius were Roman coins.) Having 240 pennies in a pound was useful because it enabled the pound to be divided equally into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths, forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths. The decimal pound system is less flexible as the pound can only be divided into halves, quarters, fifths, tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths, and fiftieths.

Related Topics:
Decimalisation - 1971 - Shillings - Solidus - Denarius

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After Decimal Day, the value of one penny was therefore different from its pre-decimalisation value. For the first few years after 1971, the new type of penny was commonly referred to as a "new penny". Coins for denominations of ½p, 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p all bore the name NEW PENCE (or NEW PENNY) until 1982, when the inscription changed to ONE PENNY, TWO PENCE, FIVE PENCE and so on.

Related Topics:
Decimal Day - 1982

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