Dirham symbol
The dirham symbol story changed in 2025: for decades the UAE dirham had no sign at all — just the letters AED — until the Central Bank unveiled an official one, a capital D crossed by two lines from the UAE flag. This page copies the official sign and every text form, and is honest about the one catch: most fonts cannot draw the new sign yet.
Copy the dirham forms
Dirham amounts ready to copy
One currency, several writings
| Form | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| (U+20C3) | The official UAE dirham sign — D with two horizontal bars | Unveiled 27 March 2025; encoded in Unicode 18.0 (Sept 2026); goes BEFORE the amount |
| AED | The ISO 4217 code (numeric 784) | The universal safe form: banking, invoices, travel sites |
| Dhs | The everyday shop-sign abbreviation | Menus, classifieds, rent boards across the Emirates |
| د.إ | The Arabic abbreviation (dirham imarati) | Standard in Arabic text and bilingual signage |
| DH / د.م. | Morocco’s dirham (MAD) | A different currency sharing the ancient name — from the Greek drachma |
About that catch: a character is only visible when a font draws it, and as of late 2026 the big system fonts (Apple’s, Google’s Noto and Roboto) have not yet added U+20C3 — so the official sign above may appear as an empty box on your screen while STILL copying as the true character. That is exactly the gap this page exists for: copy it here, and where your audience’s fonts lag, AED remains the professional fallback. The Saudi riyal walked this same road a step earlier.
How to type it
| Platform | Method |
|---|---|
| Anywhere | Copy the sign from this page — keyboards do not carry it yet (the Central Bank has proposed it for the 6 key, as with the riyal) |
| Word | Type 20C3 then Alt + X (renders where the document font supports it) |
| HTML | Numeric code 8387 — no named entity; use a font that includes U+20C3 or the AED text form |
| Arabic text | د.إ is typed with an Arabic keyboard layout |
Explore more
The currency family gathers on the currency symbols hub, the Gulf’s other new sign is the Saudi riyal symbol page, and the region’s heavyweight neighbour is the euro symbol.
Frequently asked questions
What is the AED symbol?
Since March 2025, an official one: a D crossed by two horizontal lines (U+20C3), placed before the amount. Before that — and still, wherever fonts lag — “AED” itself is the symbol in practice, which is why the search lands on a page that carries both.
Why does the dirham sign show as a box on my phone?
Your font predates it. The character was only standardized in Unicode 18.0 (September 2026); Apple and Google fonts have not shipped it yet. The copied character is still correct — it will display once fonts update, and AED covers the meantime.
Does the sign go before or after the amount?
Before, per the Central Bank’s own guidelines — the same position as $ and € in English-style writing. Arabic د.إ follows Arabic text conventions.
Are the UAE and Moroccan dirhams the same currency?
No — cousins by name only (both inherit “dirham” from the Greek drachma). The UAE dirham is AED, divided into 100 fils and pegged to the US dollar; Morocco’s is MAD, divided into 100 centimes.
What is a dirham worth in smaller units?
100 fils make one UAE dirham, though fils coins barely circulate now — prices are simply written in dirhams and decimals, like AED 12.50.
