L

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L the twelfth letter of the modern English alphabet and the eleventh of the ancient Roman one, corresponding to Greek lambda and ultimately Semitic lamed.

L is the Roman numeral for 50. Originally, this was a symbol identified with the letter L because of coincidence of form. In ancient Roman notation, L with a stroke above denoted 50,000.

L is also the sign for pounds sterling, from the initial letter of Latin librae ‘pounds’.

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