The symbol $, usually written before the numerical amount, is used for the U.S. dollar (as well as for many other currencies). The sign was the result of a late 18th-century evolution of the scribal abbreviation "ps" for the <answer>peso</answer>, the common name for the Spanish dollars that were in wide circulation in the New World from the 16th to the 19th centuries. These Spanish <answer>peso</answer>s or dollars were minted in Spanish America, namely in Mexico City, Potosí, Bolivia; and Lima, Peru. The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to $.
What was the common name for the Spanish dollar?
peso