pence

See also: Pence and pençe

English

Etymology

14th century contraction of penies (“pennies”), collective plural of penny.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Ireland) IPA^(key): /pɛns/ (stressed), IPA^(key): /pəns/ (unstressed and in compounds)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Noun

pence

1. plural of penny (the subunit of the pound sterling or Irish pound).

Usage notes

• This is the collective plural, used when referring to a sum of money, as in These apples are twenty pence each. When referring to several coins each worth one penny, the correct plural is pennies, as in I have one tenpence coin and three pennies.

Derived terms

• sixpence
• threepence
• twopence

Descendants

• → Arabic: بِنْس (bins)
• → Chinese:
  • Mandarin: 便士 (biànshì)
• → Esperanto: penco
• → Hindi: पेन्स pl (pens)
• → Marathi: पेन्स pl (pensa)
• → Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pence pl
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: pence pl
• → Polish: pens
• → Russian: пенс (pens)
• → Uyghur: پەنس (pens)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛns/

Noun

pence m

1. indefinite plural of penny