penny

English Online Dictionary. What means penny‎? What does penny mean?

English

Alternative forms

• peny, penie, pennie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English penny, 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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛni/
• (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪni/
• (In compounds like twopenny, dated) IPA^(key): /pəni/
• Rhymes: -ɛni
• Hyphenation: pen‧ny

Noun

penny (plural pennies or pence or (obsolete) pens)

1. (historical) In the United Kingdom and Ireland, 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.
2. In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
3. (historical) In Ireland, a coin worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p.
4. In the US and (formerly) Canada, a one-cent coin, worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢.
5. In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
6. A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
7. Money in general.

Usage notes

• The plural pence is only used as a unit of currency. The plural pennies is used for other cases, in particular when referring to multiple individual coins.

• The compounds (twopence, threepence, fourpence and so on up to tenpence, but not eleven pence or any higher) should be read with the stress on the first syllable and a reduced /ə/ in pence. Thus /ˈtʌpəns/, /ˈθɹʌpəns/, /ˈfɔːpəns/ and so on.

Synonyms

• (¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling): old penny
• (¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling): new penny (old-fashioned)
• (one-cent coin or its value): cent

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• pence § Descendants

Verb

penny (third-person singular simple present pennies, present participle pennying, simple past and past participle pennied)

1. (slang) To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door.

2. (electronics) To circumvent the tripping of an electrical circuit breaker by the dangerous practice of inserting a coin in place of a fuse in a fuse socket.
3. (Oxbridge slang) During a meal or as part of a drinking game, to drop a penny in a person's drink with the expectation that they finish it (or some such variation thereof); commonly associated with crewdates at Oxford and swaps at Cambridge.

See also

• d (British penny)
• cent

Anagrams

• Pynne

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English penny.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpenːi/, [ˈpe̞nːi]
• Rhymes: -enːi

Noun

penny

1. (money) penny (division of a pound)

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English penny.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛ.ni/ ~ /pe.ni/

Noun

penny m (plural pennys)

1. penny

Further reading

• “penny”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

English penny, from Middle English peny, from Old English penning, penniġ, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz. Doublet of penge, penning, and pfennig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛn.nɪ/

Noun

penny m (definite singular pennyen, indefinite plural pence or pennyer, definite plural pencene or pennyene)

1. a penny

References

• “penny” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “penny” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

English penny, from Middle English peny, from Old English penning, penniġ, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz. Doublet of penge, penning, and pfennig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛn.nɪ/

Noun

penny m (plural pennyen)

1. a penny

References

• “penny” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Noun

penny m (plural pennies)

1. Alternative spelling of péni

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English penny.

Noun

penny m (plural penny)

1. penny

Declension