How do you use the word "penny" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "penny": A penny for your thoughts. Penny wise, pound foolish.

Penny Meaning

/ˈpɛni/

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounIn 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.

nounIn the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.

Sentence Examples

A penny for your thoughts.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

I bet Dave paid a pretty penny for his new car.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

cent

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

She found a single ____ on the sidewalk and picked it up, thinking it unlucky to leave.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Every ____ counts when you are saving for a large purchase over a long period of time.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē)bor. Latin patina Latin panna? Latin pannus? Proto-Indo-European *-n̥kʷo-der.? Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Germanic *-īnaz Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz ? Proto-Germanic *-ingaz Proto-Germanic *panningaz Proto-West Germanic *panning Old English peniġ Middle English peny English 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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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, troubled Ellen." — 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, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056:

"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 coin into the Forth, for "good luck," while trains are crossing the bridge." — 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:

"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:

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