A.Word.A.Day --halfpenny

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Apr 13, 2018

This week’s theme
Words with odd pronunciations

This week’s words
ceilidh
sophrosyne
segue
hors d'oeuvre
halfpenny

Image: Wikimedia Commons

This week’s comments
AWADmail 824

Next week’s theme
Phobias & Manias

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

halfpenny

PRONUNCIATION:

(HAY-puh-nee, HAP-nee)

plural halfpence (HAY-puhns)

MEANING:

noun:	1. A British coin representing half a penny.
	2. A sum of half a penny.
adjective:	1. Worth half a penny.
	2. Worth very little.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle English halfpeny, from Old English h(e)alf + penig, penning. Earliest documented use: 1330.

USAGE:

“The Iraqis, by contrast, were led by a halfpenny Hitler.”
Gerald Parshall; The Diplomatists: Powell & Schwarzkopf; US News & World Report (Washington, DC); Mar 16, 1998.

See more usage examples of halfpenny in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life -- except religion. -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (13 Apr 1949-2011)

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