penny

• n. （美）分；便士

来自古英语penig,便士，来自Proto-Germanic*panninggaz,便士，可能借自拉丁语panna,小盘子，词源同pan.即形如小盘子。

penny

penny: [OE] Penny comes from a prehistoric Germanic *panninggaz, which also produced German pfennig and Dutch and Swedish penning. It has been speculated that this was derived from *pand- ‘pledge, security’, which also produced English pawn – in which case it would denote etymologically a ‘coin used in transactions involving the pledging of a sum as security’.
=> pawn

penny (n.)

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.

Offa'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]

The 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.

As 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.

来自柯林斯例句

2. Unleaded gasoline rose more than a penny a gallon.

无铅汽油每加仑涨了1分多。

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3. Government penny-pinching is blamed for the decline in food standards.

政府吝啬被指责是食品标准下降的原因。

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4. Penny's only son was the apple of her eye.

彭妮的独子是她的心肝宝贝。

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5. The operation cost £100,000 and it was worth every penny.

那次手术花了10万英镑，但是花得非常值。

来自柯林斯例句