Word.ws English Dictionary

pound sterling

UK/paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/

pound sterling noun: the currency of the United Kingdom.

pound sterling: the currency of the United Kingdom
Image: -JvL-, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pound sterling (plural pounds sterling)

  1. The currency of the United Kingdom.
    • 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.1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547
    Synonyms:
    pound[Appendix:Glossary, quid, nicker, sov

pound sterling meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and Indonesian

pound sterling in Hindi

currency of the UK
पाउंड स्टर्लिंग pāuṇḍ sṭarliṅg, पाउंड pāuṇḍ

pound sterling in Tamil

பவுன், சவரன், பெளன்

pound sterling in Arabic

currency of the UK
جُنَيْه junayh, جُنَيْه إِسْتَرْلِينِيّ junayh ʔistarlīniyy

pound sterling in Indonesian

currency of the UK
paun
More languagesFewer languages
pound sterling in Persian
پوند استرلینگ
pound sterling in Thai
ปอนด์ bpon
pound sterling in Vietnamese
bảng Anh

Synonyms of pound sterling

Forms of pound sterling

pluralpounds sterling
alternative formGBP
alternative form£

Origin of pound sterling

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.

Questions about pound sterling

What does pound sterling mean?
Pound sterling means the currency of the United Kingdom.
What is pound sterling in Hindi?
Pound sterling in Hindi is पाउंड स्टर्लिंग (pāuṇḍ sṭarliṅg), पाउंड (pāuṇḍ). See Pound sterling meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is pound sterling?
Pound sterling is a noun.
How do you pronounce pound sterling?
Pound sterling is pronounced /paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of pound sterling?
The plural of pound sterling is pounds sterling.

Words near pound sterling in the dictionary

  1. pound Scots
  2. pound shop
  3. pound shops
  4. pound sign
  5. pound signs
  6. pound sterling
  7. pound the pavement
  8. pound the table
  9. pound town
  10. pound-foolish
  11. pound-for-pound

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pound sterling (page history and authors); pound sterling (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-pound sterling.wav.

Cite this entry: “pound sterling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pound_sterling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.