penny

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpɪni/ UK /ˈpɛni/ See IPA manual

Freq #2284

Meanings

1

noun
A small coin worth one hundredth of a pound or, in the US, one cent.

She found a shiny penny on the pavement.
2

noun
Money in general (informal).

He saved every penny to buy his first car.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a small coin worth one... centcentime

Word family

Forms pennies

Derived forms catchpennyeighteenpennyeightpennyelevenpennyfifteenpennyfivepennyfortypennyfourpennyfourteenpennyget-pennyhearth-pennylickpenny

Related forms cent d

Etymology

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.

peny Middle English peniġ Old English *panning Proto-West Germanic *panningaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

External links

# penny

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɪni/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɛni/
**Frequency rank:** 2284

## Meanings
1. A small coin worth one hundredth of a pound or, in the US, one cent.
2. Money in general (informal).

## Examples
- She found a shiny penny on the pavement.
- He saved every penny to buy his first car.

## Derived Forms
- catchpenny
- eighteenpenny
- eightpenny
- elevenpenny
- fifteenpenny
- fivepenny
- fortypenny
- fourpenny
- fourteenpenny
- get-penny
- hearth-penny
- lickpenny

## Related Forms
- cent
- d

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: peny
- Root: peniġ
- Root: *panning
- Root: *panningaz

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Penny comes from Middle English peny, from Old English peniġ, penniġ, penning (“penny”), from Proto-West Germanic *panning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz, of uncertain origin. Doublet of pfennig and fening. The historical chain includes peny (Middle English), peniġ (Old English), *panning (Proto-West Germanic), *panningaz (Proto-Germanic). In present-day English it covers a small coin worth one hundredth of a pound or, in the US, one cent and money in general (informal). The wider family includes derived forms such as catchpenny, eighteenpenny, eightpenny, elevenpenny, fifteenpenny and related forms such as cent, d.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Register & Style

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penny

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