ha'penny

American

[hey-puh-nee, heyp-nee] / ˈheɪ pə ni, ˈheɪp ni /

noun

British.

plural

ha'pennies

contraction of halfpenny.

ha'penny British

/ ˈheɪpnɪ /

noun

a variant spelling of halfpenny

"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

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.

I’m sure you’ve all missed ’em: The ha’penny, farthing and shilling.

From Washington Post • Sep. 3, 2020

Lovers engraved their names on tokens, the tide carried them away; children tried to catch wriggling elvers, dropping a ha’penny as they slipped free.

From New York Times • Apr. 1, 2020

The Times predicts a close vote, saying the leader of the House of Laity, Dr Philip Giddings said he would not even bet "an old ha'penny" on the proposal for women bishops to be passed.

From BBC • Jul. 14, 2014

But Fable Coin Golf is a miniature triumph, brilliantly mixing the dynamics of pinball and shove ha'penny with cunningly compelling results.

From The Guardian • Jul. 12, 2011

“I can’t do that, I’m afraid. It’s not worth my while to make ha’penny loans.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

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