PENNY Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

noun

a copper and zinc U.S. coin, worth one 100th of the U.S. dollar; one cent. Previous compositions of U.S. pennies included certain percentages of nickel and steel.
a coin worth one 100th of the dollar of various other nations, although several of these nations, as Australia and New Zealand, no longer use pennies.
Also called new penny. a copper-plated steel, formerly bronze, coin of the United Kingdom, one 100th of a pound. p
a former bronze coin and monetary unit of the United Kingdom and various other nations, one 12th of a shilling: use phased out in 1971. d.
a sum of money.

He spent every penny he ever earned.
the length of a nail in terms of certain standard designations, as eightpenny and sixtypenny.

adjective

Stock Exchange. of, relating to, or being penny stock.

frenzied speculation in the penny market.

idioms

spend a penny, to urinate.
turn an honest penny, to earn one's living honestly; make money by fair means.

He's never turned an honest penny in his life.
a pretty penny, a considerable sum of money.

Their car must have cost them a pretty penny.
a bad penny, someone or something undesirable.

Penny 2 American

[pen-ee] / ˈpɛn i /

noun

a female given name, form of Penelope.

noun

Also called (formerly): new penny. p. (in Britain) a bronze coin having a value equal to one hundredth of a pound
d. (in Britain before 1971) a bronze or copper coin having a value equal to one twelfth of a shilling or one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound
a former monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland worth one hundredth of a pound
(in the US and Canada) a cent
a coin of similar value, as used in several other countries
informal (used with a negative) the least amount of money

I don't have a penny
informal an objectionable person or thing (esp in the phrase turn up like a bad penny )
informal a considerable sum of money
informal to urinate
informal the explanation of something was finally realized
plentiful but of little value

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of penny

First recorded before 900; Middle English peni, Old English penig, pænig, pen(n)ning, pending, cognate with Old Frisian penning, panning, Old Saxon, Dutch penning, Old High German pfenning, phantinc, phenting ( German Pfennig ), Old Norse penningr (perhaps from Old English ); from unattested West Germanic or Germanic pandingaz, probably equivalent to unattested pand- + unattested -ingaz; see -ing 3. The origin of spend a penny is from the former cost of using a public lavatory

Explanation

It takes a hundred pennies to make a dollar. Even though it doesn't have a heck of a lot of value, a penny may bring you luck if you pick it up (as the saying goes). In the US, a penny is a one-cent, copper-colored coin, which features Abraham Lincoln's profile on one side. Many countries' currencies include pennies as the very smallest unit of money, including Canada, Britain, and South Africa. While the plural form of penny is pence in the UK, and it's often abbreviated as p there, in North America the plural is commonly pennies — and sometimes cents.

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Vocabulary lists containing penny

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

If you’re looking to take advantage of these promotions, here are four savvy ways to make every penny count:

FromMarketWatch • May 14, 2026

Economists Ryan Kellogg and Rich Sweeney estimate that the law raises East Coast gasoline prices by about a penny and a half per gallon on average, costing drivers roughly $770 million a year.

FromSalon • May 13, 2026

Adjusted earnings came to 70 cents a share, at the top end of its guidance and beating analyst forecasts by a penny, according to FactSet.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

"He doesn't have a penny to go private and it's painful, terribly painful. will you say 'sorry'?"

FromBBC • Apr. 24, 2026

“If I gave you a penny and it magically doubled the next day, and those pennies doubled the next day, and so on, do you know how much you’d have in a month?”

From"Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023