Word.ws English Dictionary

sixpence

UK/ˈsɪks.pəns/

sixpence noun: the value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.

sixpence: the value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sixpence (countable and uncountable, plural sixpences)

  1. (British, Irish, obsolete, uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.
    • Finest apples, sixpence each.
    • When the ferry-boat with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for the wasted time but the captain of the craft.1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 221
  2. (historical) A former British or Irish coin worth six pennies, first minted in 1551.
    • Have you got two sixpences for a shilling?
    • "One penny, sir!" He was roused at once from his abstraction; for it was a question to himself whether he had even that in his pocket. Sixpence was, however, discovered; he paid the toll, and passed on.1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 55

Examples of sixpence in a sentence

  • This car has excellent brakes that will stop it on a sixpence.
  • This motorboat can turn on a sixpence.
  • In C.18–early 19, occ. a sixpence: also c., whence the U.S. sense.

All 17 example sentences with sixpence

Synonyms of sixpence

All synonyms of sixpence

Forms of sixpence

pluralsixpences

Plural of sixpence: sixpences

Origin of sixpence

From six + pence.

Words formed from sixpence

Phrases with sixpence

Questions about sixpence

What does sixpence mean?
Sixpence means the value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.
What part of speech is sixpence?
Sixpence is a noun.
How do you pronounce sixpence?
Sixpence is pronounced /ˈsɪks.pəns/ (UK).
What is the plural of sixpence?
The plural of sixpence is sixpences.

Words near sixpence in the dictionary

  1. sixmo
  2. sixmonth
  3. sixmos
  4. sixness
  5. sixpack
  6. sixpence
  7. sixpences
  8. sixpennies
  9. sixpenny
  10. sixpenny bit
  11. sixpenny bits

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sixpence (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-us-sixpence.ogg.

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