halfpenny

Meaning

1. (UK, also, attributive, historical) Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.
2. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical) Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.
3. (UK, also, attributive, historical) Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.
4. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical) Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.
5. (broadly, historical) A postage stamp worth half of one penny.
6. (Australia, US, archaic, broadly) A usually semicircular earmark made in the ear of a livestock animal.
7. (broadly, figuratively, obsolete) A small piece; a fragment.

Synonyms

ha’penny

bawbee

meg

trifling

trivial

Translations

medio penique

νόμισμα μισής πένας

sou

demi-penny

waardeloos

mig penic

yarım peni

ημιπέννιο

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈheɪp(ə)ni/

Etymology

From Middle English halpeni, halfpeni (“English coin worth half a penny; coin used in biblical times; small foreign coin”), and then either:
* from half (“half”) (from Old English healf; ultimate etymology unknown, possible from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to incline”) or *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”)) + peni, penni (“English coin; coin used in biblical times; foreign coin; (especially in the plural) cash, money; pennyweight”) (from Old English penning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz (“coin, penny”); further etymology uncertain); or
* from Late Old English halpene, halpenige (which can also be construed as early Middle English), from healf + penning (see above).
By surface analysis, half + penny.