pound sterling
/paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/
"pound-sterling" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pound sterling” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The currency of the United Kingdom.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pound-sterling · pound sterling · English
pound sterling · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pound sterling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pound sterling” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pound sterling is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /paʊnd ˈstɜː(ɹ).lɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The currency of the United Kingdom.".
pound sterling doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 … The correct English form is pound sterling, spelled P-O-U-N-D- -S-T-E-R-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The currency of the United Kingdom.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how pound sterling appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.