Before decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 20 shillings and each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound. The symbol for the shilling was ""s"."—not from the first letter of "shilling", but from the Latin "solidus". The symbol for the penny was ""d".", from the French "denier", from the Latin "denarius" (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins). A mixed sum of shillings and pence, such as 3 shillings and 6 pence, was written as "3/6" or "3"s". 6"d"." and spoken as "three and six" or "three and sixpence" except for "1/1," "2/1" etc., which were spoken as "one and a penny", "two and a penny", etc. 5 shillings, for example, was written as "5"s"." or, more commonly, "5/–".