halfpenny

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an English coin worth half a penny

   The child paid a halfpenny for the cake.

2. 2
   noun

   Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.

   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.

4. 4
   noun

   A postage stamp worth half of one penny.

   The child paid a halfpenny for the cake.

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 (whi...

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