penny

Syllables: pen·ny/ˈpɛni//ˈpɪni/

penny noun: 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.

Image: United States Mint, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

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

(historical) 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.
- 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...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...
- 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...1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 150
In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
(historical) In Ireland, a coin worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p.
In the US and (formerly) Canada, a one-cent coin, worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢.
- Holy shit! A hundred and eleven pennies! At that point, that dog had more Lincoln in him than Mary Todd.2015 November 22, “Pennies”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 35, John Oliver (actor), via HBO
- A Treasury spokesperson said the government made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the United States Mint will continue to manufacture pennies only as long as an inventory of penny blanks exists.2025 May 22, Chris Isidore and Matt Egan, “The Treasury unveils its plan to kill the penny”, in CNN Business
Synonyms:

cent
In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
Money in general.
- to turn an honest penny
- What penny hath Rome borne, / What men provided, what munition sent?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]...

Verb

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

(slang) To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door.
- Zach and Ben had only been at college for a week when their door was pennied by the girls down the hall.
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.
(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.
- You got pennied! Down it, fresher.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Penny

Penny

A diminutive of the female given name Penelope.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Penny

Penny

A surname.
- Max Cross cut a fine figure as the Colonel, Percy Penny was a somewhat unducal Duke, while Edgar McHale gave a particularly good rendering of the Major.1922, Musical News and Herald, volumes 62-63, page 780
- “Because these racist bigots try to prevent us from standing up for our baby, our boy, he should be afforded the same rights that Kyle Rittenhouse had, Daniel Penny and all the people who have claimed whatever their defense was – he should be afforded the same right,” Alexander said later in the...2025 June 26, Peter D'Abrosca, “Austin Metcalf’s accused killer Karmelo Anthony needs support fighting ‘white supremacy’ after murder indictment: spox”, in New York Post
An unincorporated community in Calloway County, Kentucky, United States.
An unincorporated community in Pike County, Kentucky.
A small community on the Fraser River in central British Columbia, Canada.

penny meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

penny in Hindi

1/240 of a pound sterling or Irish pound: पेनी penī
1/100 of a pound sterling or British pound: पेनी penī, पेन्स pens

penny in Tamil

பென்னி

penny in Marathi

1/240 of a pound sterling or Irish pound: पेनी penī
1/100 of a pound sterling or British pound: पेनी penī, पेन्स pensa

penny in Urdu

پینی

More languagesFewer languages

penny in Bengali: পেনি, টাকা, অর্থ, ইংলণ্ডীষ় তাম্রমুদ্রা
penny in Telugu: పెన్నీ, పేనీ
penny in Malayalam: ഒരു സെൻറ് നാണയം, പെനി
penny in Kannada: ಇಂಗ್ಲೆಂಡಿನ ತಾಮ್ರದ ನಾಣ್ಯ
penny in Punjabi: ਪੈਨੀ, ਪੇਨੀ
penny in Gujarati: પેની
penny in Odia: ପେନି, ପେନୀ
penny in Nepali: पेनी, पेन्नी
penny in Arabic: بِنْس bins
penny in Malay: peni
penny in Thai: เพนนี peen-nii

Examples of penny in a sentence

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.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The...
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.1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 150:
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.2025 June 25, Christian Wolmar, “How slow boats gradually gave way to rail”, in RAIL, number 1038, page 57:

All 40 example sentences with penny

Synonyms of penny

cent
old penny
1⁄100 of a pound sterling

Forms of penny

Noun
plural	pennies
plural	pence
plural (obsolete)	pens
alternative form (obsolete)	peny
alternative form (obsolete)	penie
alternative form (obsolete)	pennie
Verb
third-person singular present	pennies
present participle	pennying
past participle	pennied
past	pennied
Proper noun
alternative form	Pennie

Plural of penny: pennies or pence

Origin of penny

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.

From Pen(elope) + -y.

Words formed from penny

Phrases with penny

82 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with penny

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about penny

What does penny mean?: Penny means 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.
What is penny in Hindi?: Penny in Hindi is पेनी (penī), पेन्स (pens). See Penny meaning in Hindi.
How do you use penny in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is penny?: Penny can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce penny?: Penny is pronounced /ˈpɛni/ (UK).
What is the plural of penny?: The plural of penny is pennies.

Words near penny in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: penny (page history and authors); Penny (page history and authors); penny (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penny (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penny (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penny (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penny (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penny (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penny (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penny (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penny (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-penny.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Penny.wav.

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