penny
penny Lexical Profile
penny Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A copper-colored coin used in the United States and Canada equal to one cent, or one-hundredth of a dollar.
"She dropped a penny into the wishing well and closed her eyes."
British A bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one-hundredth of a pound sterling.
"The price of a basic loaf of bread used to be just a few pence, but now it costs over a pound."
A very small or insignificant sum of money.
"Despite his flashy lifestyle, he didn't contribute a single penny to the charity campaign."
Word Nuance & Usage
In British English, there is a strict distinction between plural forms: 'pennies' refers to the physical coins themselves, whereas 'pence' refers to a total sum or value of money.
• Rhymes for penny
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'penig' or 'pening', tracing back to the Proto-Germanic '*panningaz', though its ultimate etymological origin prior to Germanic remains uncertain.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.