penny
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɛni/
ipa: /ˈpɪni/
note: In compounds like twopenny, dated
ipa: /pəni/
rhymes: -ɛni
Forms: form: pennies
form: pence
form: pens
form: peny
form: penie
form: pennie
Etymology: From Middle English peny, from Old English peniġ, penniġ, penning (“penny”), from Proto-West Germanic *panning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz, of uncertain origin (see that page for theories). Doublet of pfennig and fening.
Senses: examples: text: Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056:
text: We had not proceeded very far across the south cantilever when we saw a penny lying beside the track, and another a short distance further on. We were to find several more pennies, and some half-pennies, before we reached the north shore. Inspector Bell explained that many passengers try to throw a coin into the Forth, for "good luck," while trains are crossing the bridge.
ref: 1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 150:
text: However he lost out, as other business interests whom he had alienated by his efforts to squeeze every penny of profit from the canal, supported the construction of the railway.
ref: 2025 June 25, Christian Wolmar, “How slow boats gradually gave way to rail”, in RAIL, number 1038, page 57:
glosses: In the United Kingdom and Ireland and many other countries, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: d.
glosses: In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
glosses: In Ireland, a coin worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p.
examples: text: Holy shit! A hundred and eleven pennies! At that point, that dog had more Lincoln in him than Mary Todd.
ref: 2015 November 22, “Pennies”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 35, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
glosses: In the US and (formerly) Canada, a one-cent coin, worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢.
glosses: In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
glosses: A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
examples: text: to turn an honest penny
text: What penny hath Rome borne, / What men provided, what munition sent?
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: Money in general.
Synonyms: word: old penny
sense: new penny (old-fashioned)
word: 1⁄100 of a pound sterling
sense: one-cent coin or its value
word: cent
Derived terms: a bad penny always turns up
a penny saved is a penny earned
a penny saved is a penny gained
a pound to a penny
bad penny
bright as a new penny
catchpenny
clean as a new penny
dead man's penny
death penny
eighteenpenny
eightpenny
eightpenny nail
eight penny nail
eight-penny nail
elevenpenny
fair penny
fifteenpenny
fine penny
fivepenny
fortypenny
fourpenny
four penny nail
fourpenny nail
four-penny nail
fourteenpenny
get-penny
God's penny
hearth-penny
in for a penny, in for a pound
jam penny
Kissi penny
lickpenny
luck penny
megapenny
ninepenny
pence
penniless
penny-a-line
penny-a-liner
penny ante
penny-ante
penny arcade
penny auction
penny bank
Penny Black
penny bun
penny candy
penny chew
pennycress
penny dog
penny dreadful
penny-dreadfulish
penny-dreadfulism
penny fall
penny-farthing
penny farthing
penny-father
penny for one's thoughts
penny for them
penny for your thoughts
penny gaffe
penny gaff
penny-gaff
penny grass
penny-grass
penny in the fusebox
penny-in-the-slot machine
pennyland
penny loafer
penny mail
penny packet
penny-pig
penny-pinch
penny-pincher
penny pincher
penny-pinching
penny post
penny pusher
penny sleeve
penny slot
penny starver
penny sterling
penny stock
penny sweet
penny tray
penny university
penny-wedding
penny wedding
penny weed
pennyweight
penny whip
penny whistle
pennywhistle
penny wisdom
pennywise
penny-wise
penny-wise and pound-foolish
penny wise and pound foolish
pennywort
pennyworth
Peter's penny
pickpenny
pinchpenny
pitchpenny
pretty penny
push-penny
red penny
Rome-penny
scrape-penny
sevenpenny
sixpenny
sixpenny nail
six penny nail
six-penny nail
sixteenpenny
sixteen penny nail
sixteen-penny nail
spear-penny
spear penny
spend a penny
swarf-penny
ten a penny
tenpenny
ten penny nail
tenpenny nail
ten-penny nail
the bad penny always comes back
the bad penny always turns up
the penny drops
third penny
thirteenpenny
thirtypenny
threepenny
tin penny
toffee penny
true-penny
turn an honest penny
twalpenny
twelvepenny
twelve-penny nail
twelve penny nail
twentypenny
two a penny
two ha'pennies for a penny
twopenny a bad penny always comes back
watch the pennies
water penny
wheat penny
worth every penny
Related terms: pence § Descendants