Word.ws English Dictionary

halfpenny

Syllables: half·pen·ny/ˈheɪp(ə)ni//ˈheɪp(ə)ni/

halfpenny noun: a discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new).

halfpenny: a discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new)
Image: Rasiel Suarez Uploaded by Rasiel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

halfpenny (plural halfpennies or halfpence)

  1. (UK, also, attributive, historical) A discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new).
    • There vvere none principal, they vvere all like one another, as halfe pence are, euerie one fault ſeeming monſtrous, til his fellovv-fault came to match it.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • [T]here are Thouſands vvho vvould not have contributed a ſingle Halfpenny, as indeed he did not in Effect, for he made no Tender of any thing; and therefore as the others thought proer to make no Demand, he kept his Money in his Pocket.1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing a Scene of Distress, which will Appear Very Extraordinary to Most of Our Readers”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume V, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]...
    Synonyms:
    ½d, ½p
  2. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical) A similar coin formerly used in Ireland and Scotland.
  3. (UK, also, attributive, historical) An amount of money that the English (later British) coin was worth.
    • There ſhall be in England, ſeuen halfe peny Loaues ſold for a peny: the three hoop'd pot, ſhall haue ten hoopes, and I vvill make it Fellony to drink ſmall Beere.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • My earlieſt vviſh vvas to eſcape unheeded through life; but I have been ſet up for half-pence, to fret and ſcamper at the end of my chain.1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Editor’s Preface”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […], volume II, London: […] [F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W....
  4. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical) An amount of money that the Irish or Scottish coin was worth.
  5. (broadly, historical) A postage stamp worth half of one penny.
  6. (Australia, US, archaic, broadly) A usually semicircular earmark made in the ear of a livestock animal.
  7. (broadly, figuratively, obsolete) A small piece; a fragment.
    • O ſhe tore the letter into a thouſand halfpence, raild at her ſelf, that ſhe ſhould be ſo immodeſt to vvrite, to one that ſhe knevv vvould flout her, […]1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II...

Proper noun capitalized: Halfpenny

UK/ˈhɑːfˌpɛni/

Halfpenny (plural Halfpennys)

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

halfpenny meaning in Arabic and Vietnamese

halfpenny in Arabic

discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny; similar coin formerly used in Ireland and Scotland
نصف بنس

halfpenny in Vietnamese

discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny; similar coin formerly used in Ireland and Scotland
niễng mũn

Synonyms of halfpenny

Forms of halfpenny

Noun
pluralhalfpennies
pluralhalfpence
alternative formhalfepenie
alternative formhalfepenny
alternative formhalfepeny
alternative formhalfepenye
alternative formhalfpenie
alternative formhalfpeny
alternative formhalfpenye
alternative formhalpeny
alternative formhalpenye
alternative formhapeney
alternative formhapenny
alternative formha'penny
alternative formhappenny
alternative formhawpny
Proper noun
pluralHalfpennys

Plural of halfpenny: halfpennies or halfpence

Origin of halfpenny

From Middle English halpeni, halfpeni (“English coin worth half a penny; coin used in biblical times; small foreign coin”), and then either: * from half (“half”) (from Old English healf; ultimate etymology unknown, possible from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to incline”) or *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”)) + peni, penni (“English coin; coin used in biblical times; foreign coin; (especially in the plural) cash, money; pennyweight”) (from Old English penning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz (“coin, penny”); further etymology uncertain); or * from Late Old English halpene, halpenige (which can also be construed as early Middle English), from healf + penning (see above). By surface analysis, half + penny.

From halfpenny, a nickname for a tenant.

Words formed from halfpenny

Phrases with halfpenny

Questions about halfpenny

What does halfpenny mean?
Halfpenny means a discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new).
What is halfpenny in Arabic?
Halfpenny in Arabic is نصف بنس. See Halfpenny meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is halfpenny?
Halfpenny can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce halfpenny?
Halfpenny is pronounced /ˈheɪp(ə)ni/ (UK).
What is the plural of halfpenny?
The plural of halfpenny is halfpennies.

Words near halfpenny in the dictionary

  1. halfpace
  2. halfpaces
  3. halfpence
  4. halfpences
  5. halfpennies
  6. halfpenny
  7. halfpennys
  8. halfpennyworth
  9. halfpennyworths
  10. halfpike
  11. halfpikes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: halfpenny (page history and authors); Halfpenny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-halfpenny.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-halfpenny.wav.

Cite this entry: “halfpenny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/halfpenny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.