What is "penny"

Penny \Pen"ny\, a. [Perh. a corruption of pun, for pound.] Denoting pound weight for one thousand; -- used in combination, with respect to nails; as, tenpenny nails, nails of which one thousand weight ten pounds.

Penny \Pen*ny\, n.; pl. Penniesor Pence. Pennies denotes the number of coins; pence the amount of pennies in value. [OE. peni, AS. penig, pening, pending; akin to D. penning, OHG. pfenning, pfenting, G. pfennig, Icel. penningr; of uncertain origin.]

1. An English coin, formerly of copper, now of bronze, the twelfth part of an English shilling in account value, and equal to four farthings, or about two cents; -- usually indicated by the abbreviation d. (the initial of denarius).

   Note: ``The chief Anglo-Saxon coin, and for a long period the only one, corresponded to the denarius of the Continent . . . [and was] called penny, denarius, or denier.''
   --R. S. Poole. The ancient silver penny was worth about three pence sterling (see Pennyweight). The old Scotch penny was only one twelfth the value of the English coin. In the United States the word penny is popularly used for cent.

2. Any small sum or coin; a groat; a stiver.
   --Shak.

3. Money, in general; as, to turn an honest penny.

   What penny hath Rome borne, What men provided, what munition sent?
   --Shak.

4. (Script.) See Denarius.

   Penny cress (Bot.), an annual herb of the Mustard family, having round, flat pods like silver pennies ( Thlaspi arvense).
   --Dr. Prior.

   Penny dog (Zo["o]l.), a kind of shark found on the South coast of Britain: the tope.

   Penny father, a penurious person; a niggard. [Obs.]
   --Robinson (More's Utopia).

   Penny grass (Bot.), pennyroyal. [R.]

   Penny post, a post carrying a letter for a penny; also, a mail carrier.

   Penny wise, wise or prudent only in small matters; saving small sums while losing larger; -- used chiefly in the phrase, penny wise and pound foolish.

Penny \Pen"ny\, a. Worth or costing one penny.

Old English pening, penig, Northumbrian penning "penny," from Proto-Germanic *panninggaz (cognates: Old Norse penningr, Swedish pänning, Danish penge, Old Frisian panning, Old Saxon pending, Middle Dutch pennic, Dutch penning, Old High German pfenning, German Pfennig, not recorded in Gothic, where skatts is used instead), of unknown origin.\n\nOffa's reformed coinage on light, broad flans is likely to have begun c.760-5 in London, with an awareness of developments in Francia and East Anglia. ... The broad flan penny established by Offa remained the principal denomination, with only minor changes, until the fourteenth century.

[Anna Gannon, "The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage," Oxford, 2003]

\nThe English coin was originally set at one-twelfth of a shilling and was of silver, later copper, then bronze. There are two plural forms: pennies of individual coins, pence collectively. In translations it rendered various foreign coins of small denomination, especially Latin denarius, whence comes its abbreviation d.\n

\nAs American English colloquial for cent, it is recorded from 1889. Penny-a-liner "writer for a journal or newspaper" is attested from 1834. Penny dreadful "cheap and gory fiction" dates from c.1870. Phrase penny-wise and pound-foolish is recorded from c.1600. Penny-pincher "miserly person" is recorded from 1906 (as an adjective penny-pinching is recorded from 1858, American English). Penny loafers attested from 1960.

n. 1 (lb en historical) In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a copper coin worth (frac: 240) of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation. Abbreviation: d. 2 In the United Kingdom, a copper coin worth (frac: 100) of a pound sterling. Abbreviation: p. 3 (lb en historical) In Ireland, a coin worth (frac: 100) of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p. 4 In the US and Canada, a one-cent coin, worth (frac: 100) of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢. 5 In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin. 6 A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d. 7 Money in general. vb. 1 (context slang English) To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door. 2 (context electronics English) To circumvent the trip of an electrical circuit breaker by the dangerous practice of inserting a coin in place of a fuse in a fuse socket.

1. n. a fractional monetary unit of Ireland and the United Kingdom; equal to one hundredth of a pound

2. a coin worth one-hundredth of the value of the basic unit [syn: cent, centime]

3. [also: pence (pl)]

The English Penny, originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 g pure silver, was introduced around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia. These coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period, and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had gone before it.

Throughout the period of the Kingdom of England, from its beginnings in the 9th century, the penny was produced in silver. Pennies of the same nominal value, one 240th of a pound sterling, were in circulation continuously until the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.

Penny or internationally Penny Market (in Germany and in Austria Penny Markt) is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany, which operates 3,550 stores. Penny market was founded by James D Penny (UK) in 1973 and later sold to Rewe Group in 1992 for €3.2 billion. in Europe. It is owned by Rewe Group.

A penny is a coin used in several English-speaking countries.

Penny or pennies may also refer to:

The surname Penny may refer to:

• Andrew Penny, British conductor
• Brad Penny, American professional baseball pitcher
• Diego Penny, Peruvian Goalkeeper
• George Penny (died 1838), botanist
• George Joseph Penny (1897–1949), Canadian senator
• Glynis Penny (born 1951), English long-distance runner
• James Penny, English merchant, slave ship owner and prominent anti-abolitionist
• Malcolm Penny, ornithologist
• Will Penny, fictional character played by Charlton Heston in a 1968 western film

A penny is a coin (. pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (whence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is the formal name of the British penny (. p) and the informal name of one American cent (. ¢) as well as the informal Irish designation of 1 cent euro coin (. c). It is the informal name of the cent unit of account in Canada, although one cent coins are no longer minted in that country. The name is also used in reference to various historical currencies also derived from the Carolingian system, such as the French denier and the German pfennig. It may also be informally used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin, such as the euro cent or Chinese fen.

The Carolingian penny was originally a .940-fine silver coin weighing 1/240 pound. It was adopted by Offa of Mercia and other English kings and remained the principal currency in Europe over the next few centuries until repeated debasements necessitated the development of more valuable coins. The British penny remained a silver coin until the expense of the Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, the name remains in informal use.

No penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings (¼ d.), halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill (1/10¢) remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts.

The United States one- cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 (the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth) to 2008, the reverse featured the Lincoln Memorial. Four different reverse designs in 2009 honored Lincoln's 200th birthday and a new, "permanent" reverse – the Union Shield – was introduced in 2010. The coin is 0.75 inches (19.05 mm) in diameter and 0.0598 inches (1.52 mm) in thickness. Its weight has varied, depending upon the composition of metals used in its production (see further below).

The U.S. Mint's official name for a penny is "cent" and the U.S. Treasury's official name is "one cent piece". The colloquial term penny derives from the British coin of the same name, the pre-decimal version of which had a similar value. In American English, pennies is the plural form. (The plural form pence—standard in British English—is not used in American English.)

Although the coin's abolition has been proposed because it is now worth very little, there are currently no firm plans to eliminate the penny. As of 2015, based on the U.S. Mint Annual Report released for 2014, it costs the U.S. Mint 1.67 cents (down from 2.41 cents in 2011 and 1.83 cents in 2013) to make one cent because of the cost of materials, production, and distribution. This figure includes the Mint's fixed components for distribution and fabrication, as well as Mint overhead allocated to the penny. Fixed costs and overhead would have to be absorbed by other circulating coins without the penny. The loss from producing the one cent coin in the United States for the year of 2013 was $55,000,000. This was a slight decrease from 2012, the year before, which had a production loss of $58,000,000.

Penny Dahl, better known mononymously as Penny, is an alternative hip hop artist based in San Francisco, California and formerly affiliated with the Plague Language collective. She released her debut album, The Clockforth Movement, on Plague Language on October 29, 2002. On January 4, 2013, Fake Four Inc. released Twenties Hungry: The Unbound Anthems of Yesteryear, an EP collecting various Penny recordings from 2003-2006.

The British decimal one penny (1p) coin, usually simply known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a pound sterling. The penny’s symbol is p. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction in 1971, the year British currency was decimalised. Four different portraits of the Queen have been used on the coin, with the latest design by Jody Clark being introduced in 2015. The second and current reverse, featuring a segment of the Royal Shield, was introduced in 2008.

The correct plural form for multiple 1p coins is pennies (e.g. fifty pennies). The correct term for monetary amounts of pennies greater than 1p is pence (e.g. one pound and twenty pence).

One penny and two pence coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20p; this means that it is permissible to refuse payment of sums greater than this amount in 1p and 2p coins in order to settle a debt.

The penny was originally minted from bronze, but since 1992 it has been minted in copper-plated steel due to the increasing price of metal. Soaring copper prices in the mid-2000s caused the value of the copper in the pre-1992 coins (which are 97% copper) to exceed the coins' face value. For example, in May 2006, the intrinsic metal value of a pre-1992 1p coin was about 1.5 pence. During 2008, the value of copper fell dramatically from these peaks.

As of 31 March 2014 there were an estimated 11,278 million 1p coins in circulation, with an estimated total face value of £112.787 million.

The penny is the lowest value coin in circulation (and used) in the United Kingdom. The values of previous low value coins are:

coin

value in use

withdrawn

equivalent 2013 purchasing power when withdrawn

half-farthing

pre-decimal penny

1869/1870

4p–5p

farthing

pre-decimal penny

1960

2p–6p

pre-decimal halfpenny

pre-decimal penny

1971

2½p

pre-decimal penny

pound sterling

1971

5p

decimal halfpenny

decimal penny

1984

1½p–2½p

In Canada, a penny is a coin worth one cent, or of a dollar. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term of the coin is the "one-cent piece", but in practice the terms penny and cent predominate. Originally, "penny" referred to a two-cent coin. When the two-cent coin was discontinued, penny took over as the new one-cent coin's name. Penny was likely readily adopted because the previous coinage in Canada (up to 1858) was the British monetary system, where Canada used British pounds, shillings, and pence as coinage alongside U.S. decimal coins and Spanish milled dollars.

In Canadian French, the penny is called a cent, which is spelled the same way as the French word for "hundred" but pronounced like the English word (homonym to "sent"). Slang terms include cenne, cenne noire, or sou noir (black penny), although common Quebec French usage is sou.

Production of the penny ceased in May 2012, and the Royal Canadian Mint ceased the distribution of them as of February 4, 2013. However, like all discontinued currency in the Canadian monetary system, the coin remains legal tender. Once distribution of the coin ceased, though, vendors no longer were expected to return pennies as change for cash purchases, and were encouraged to round purchases to the nearest five cents. Non-cash transactions are still denominated to the cent.

The penny (1d) coin was the third smallest denomination of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth of a pound or of a shilling. To express an amount, penny was abbreviated to "d", e.g. 1d, from the Roman denarius. It was introduced in 1928 to replace its British counterpart, used when all of Ireland was a constituent country of the United Kingdom. The last year of minting was 1968 and it ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 1971.

The coin measured in diameter and weighed 9.45 grams. The bronze coin was made up of 95.5% copper, 3% tin and 1.5% zinc. Its dimensions were the same as that of the British penny as both currencies were pegged until 1979.

The reverse of the penny was designed by the English artist Percy Metcalfe. It featured a hen and five chicks and the coin's Irish name. The obverse featured the Irish harp. From 1928 to 1937 the date was split either side of the harp with the name Saorstát Éireann circling around. From 1938 to 1968 the inscription changed to Éire on the left of the harp and the date on the right.

The decimal one penny (1p) coin was the second smallest denomination of the Irish pound. It was first issued when the Irish currency was decimalised on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971. It was the second of three new designs introduced all in bronze, the others being a half-penny and a two pence coin. All featured ornamental birds designed by Irish artist Gabriel Hayes on the reverse.

The coin originally had a diameter of 2.032 centimetres and mass of 3.564 grams consisting of copper, tin and zinc. This was identical to the British decimal penny as the two countries' pounds were pegged until 1979.

The coin's official designation was "new penny" and this was changed in 1985 to "penny". In 1990 the decision was taken to produce the coin on a copper-plated steel base as the bronze had become too expensive. The steel base coins are magnetic.

The coin was designed by the Irish artist Gabriel Hayes and the design is adapted from the Book of Kells held in Trinity College, Dublin.

The coin was worth of an Irish pound and was withdrawn with the arrival of the euro in Ireland (introduced in 1999 jointly, and from 2002 on its own).

The Australian penny was a coin of the Australian pound used in the Commonwealth of Australia prior to decimalisation in 1966. It was worth one twelfth of an Australian shilling and 1/240 of an Australian pound. The coin was equivalent in its dimensions, composition and value to the British penny, as the two currencies were fixed at par.

The coin was first introduced in 1911, and stopped being minted in 1964, with the introduction of decimalisation. When decimalisation happened on 14 February 1966, the coin value was equal to 0.8333¢.

The obverse of the coin featured the reigning Australian monarch. Three were featured: George V, George VI and Elizabeth II. All of the pennies featuring George VI and Elizabeth II had a kangaroo on the reverse. The same image was on the Australian half-penny and has since been included on the dollar coin and the bullion silver kangaroo.

During the George VI era, coins minted at Melbourne had a dot at the end of the word "PENNY", while coins from Perth did not have a dot. This continued through the end of the coin's lifetime.

'''Penny ''' is a fictional character on the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actress Kaley Cuoco. She is the primary female character in the series, befriending her across-the-hall neighbors Leonard Hofstadter ( Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper ( Jim Parsons), two physicists who work at the nearby California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Penny's lack of advanced education, but outgoing personality and common sense drastically contrast with the personalities of the primary male characters in the series, even though she is considered part of their group. She is the love interest of Leonard, with whom she maintains a brief romantic relationship during the third season, which is later resumed in the fifth season and culminates in an engagement at the end of the seventh season and a wedding at the start of season 9. Penny is the only main character of the show whose surname has not been revealed, although she has been occasionally referred to or addressed with the surname Hofstadter since her wedding.

The pre-decimal penny (1d) was a coin worth 1/240th of a pound sterling. Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius. It was a continuation of the earlier English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one pre-1707 Scottish shilling. The penny was originally minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper, and then after 1860 in bronze.

The plural of "penny" is "pence" when referring to a quantity of money and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins. Thus 8d is eight pence, but "eight pennies" means specifically eight individual penny coins.

Before Decimal Day in 1971 twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound, hence 240 pence in one pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e.g. 42 pence would be three shillings and sixpence (3/6), pronounced "three and six". Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e.g. eight pence would be 8d.

This version of the penny was made obsolete in 1971 by decimalisation, and was replaced by the decimal penny which had a value 2.4 times as great.

Penny was a comic strip about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. Penny began because Helen Rogers Reid, the wife of the New York Herald Tribune publisher Ogden Mills Reid, wanted to see a girl as the central character of a new comic strip. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970.

Haenigsen had been doing a strip about a teenage boy, Our Bill, when he launched Penny on June 20, 1943. Comics historian Don Markstein described the title character and her confused parents:

Penelope Mildred Pringle had Katharine Hepburn's cheekbones and Dick Tracy's jawline. She also took after them in personality, never gawky or shy, or for that matter, less than totally confident and self-assured. She had a best friend, Judy, but no long-term, steady boyfriend—still, she never had a problem getting dates. Her parents, Roger and Mae Pringle, were utterly mystified by her, but coped reasonably well. Inevitably, the strip was full of teenage slang, starting with that of the bobbysoxer era but moving with the times. Haenigsen (who was 43 when it started, by the way) kept up to date by hanging out at soda fountains in Lambertville, New Jersey, where he lived and worked. He also had a trick to keep it sounding current—he'd occasionally make up his own expressions. That way he not only avoided sounding quaint—there was also a chance the reader may figure that if he'd never heard it before, it must be the newest of the new. Penny was drawn in a deceptively simple, yet highly distinctive style, anticipating the uncluttered look found in such 1950s strips as Peanuts, Miss Peach and Hi and Lois.

In 1955, Vladimir Nabokov wrote the following description of Penny into his novel Lolita: "Her eyes would follow the adventures of her favorite strip characters; there was one well-drawn sloppy bobby-soxer with high cheekbones and angular gestures, that I was not above enjoying myself."

The prolific cartoonist Bill Hoest was Haenigsen's assistant on Penny. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each Penny strip. In 1970, when Hoest left to start his own strip, My Son John, for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, Haenigsen chose to end Penny and retired.

In 1947, Nancy Blair of Lambertville, New Jersey was the winner in a Penny look-alike contest staged by the New Hope Recreation Center in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Penny is a nickname, usually feminine and frequently of Penelope (given name), which may refer to:

Penelope:

• Penelope Heyns (born 1974), South African retired swimmer
• Penny Jamieson (born 1942), Bishop of Dunedin in the Anglican Church of New Zealand (1989-2004)
• Penny Mordaunt (born 1973), British Member of Parliament
• Penny Pitou (born 1938), American retired alpine skier
• Penny Singleton (1908-2003), American film actress
• Penny Smith (born 1958), English television presenter and newsreader
• Penny Taylor (born 1981), Australian basketball player
• Penny Tranter (born 1961), Scottish meteorologist
• Penny Valentine (1943-2003), British music journalist
• Penny Wong (born 1968), Australian Labor Party senator
• Penny Wright (born 1961), Australian Greens senator

Other:

• Penny Chenery (born 1922), American racehorse owner and breeder
• Penny Hardaway (born 1971), American retired National Basketball Association player

Penny is the given name of:

• Penny Cook (born 1957), Australian actress
• Penny Coomes (born 1989), English ice dancer
• Penny Fuller (born 1940), American actress
• Penny Hammel (born 1962), American golfer
• Penny Johnson Jerald (born 1961), American actress
• Penny Lancaster (born 1971), English model and photographer, wife of rock singer Rod Stewart
• Penny LaRocque (born c. 1943), Canadian retired curler
• Penny Marshall (born 1943), American actress/director
• Penny McCoy (born 1949), American former alpine skier
• Penny Priddy (born 1944), Canadian politician
• Penny Pritzker (born 1959), American business executive, entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist
• Penny Pulz (born 1953), Australian golfer
• Penny Tai (born 1978), Malaysian-Chinese singer
• Penny Wolin (born 1953), American portrait photographer and visual anthropologist
• Penny Woolcock (born 1950), British filmmaker, opera director and screenwriter

Penny is the second studio album by Austrian-born singer Penny McLean released in 1977. Three solo singles were released before the album launched: Nobody's Child, Zwischen Zwei Gefühlen and Dance, Bunny Honey, Dance, but only the last one was included in the final track list. At the same time, Penny also sang on Silver Convention, and the group's single: "The Boys from Liverpool" was released, after that she announcing her departure from the group. The album wasn't as successful as her previous release, and managed to chart only in Sweden. Reviews for the album were mixed, and its second single (Mambo Mama) didn't chart anywhere. An unofficial CD was released in Russia.

In the United States, the length of a nail is designated by its penny size, written with a number and the abbreviation d for penny; for example, 10d for a ten-penny nail. A larger number indicates a longer nail, shown in the table below. Nails under 1¼ inch, often called brads, are sold mostly in small packages with only a length designation or with length and wire gauge designations; for example, 1" 18 ga or 3/4" 16 ga.

Penny sizes originally referred to the price for a long hundred nails in England in the 13th century: the larger the nail, the higher the cost per long hundred. The system remained in use in England into the 20th century, but is obsolete there today. The d is an abbreviation for denarius, a Roman coin similar to a penny; this was the abbreviation for a penny in the UK before decimalisation.

penny size

length
(inches)

length
(nearest mm)

2d

1

25

3d

1¼

32

4d

1½

38

5d

1¾

44

6d

2

51

7d

2¼

57

8d

2½

65

9d

2¾

70

10d

3

76

12d

3¼

83

16d

3½

89

20d

4

102

30d

4½

115

40d

5

127

50d

5½

140

60d

6

152