the penny drops

English

Phrase

the penny drops

1. (UK, informal) Understanding is reached; one comprehends.

   The penny dropped as Fred realised he had been conned.

   • 1979, Dervla Murphy, Wheels Within Wheels, page 56:

     Suddenly various pennies began to drop; now I understood obscure remarks that had been made in my presence by the Ryans, or by the nuns at school, or by Old Brigid or Tommy's foster-mother.

   • 2011 August 27 (broadcast date), Doctor Who, series 6, episode 8, Let's Kill Hitler:

     AMY: In the time I've known you, when have you shown the slightest interest in a girl?

     MELS: Penny in the air!

     AMY: I've known you for, what, 10 years? I've seen you practically every day. Name one girl you've paid the slightest bit of attention to? (RORY is flustered, runs from the room.)

     AMY: Oh my God! Rory! (AMY runs after RORY.)

     MELS: And the penny drops!

Usage notes

• May be used with variable tense and aspect: "the penny dropped", "the penny has dropped", "the penny would have dropped", etc.

Translations

understanding is reached, one comprehends

• Danish: der faldt tiøren
• Dutch: het kwartje is gevallen, (Flemish Dutch) zijn frank is gevallen
• French: ça a fait tilt (fr) (literally “it has gone click”), le franc est tombé (fr), la pièce est tombée (fr)
• German: der Groschen ist gefallen (literally “the penny has fallen”)
• Hebrew: נפל לו האסימון (he) (nafál lo ha'asimón, literally “the token has dropped for him”), ירד לו האסימון (yarád lo ha'asimón, literally “the token has descended for him”)
• Hungarian: leesik a tantusz (hu) (literally “the token drops”)
• Irish: thit an phingin
• Persian: دو هزازش جا افتاد (dō hezāresh (jā) oftād) meaning "his(/her) two thousand dropped" (his two thousand dinar)
• Polish: dotarło (literally “it reached”)
• Portuguese: caiu a ficha (literally “the token dropped”)
• Romanian: îi pica fisa (literally “to have one's token drop”)
• Russian: дошло́ (ru) (došló, literally “[It] reached [him/her]”)
• Spanish: cayó el veinte (literally “the twenty dropped”), cayó la ficha (literally “the token dropped”), cayó en la cuenta
• Swedish: polletten faller ner, polletten trillar ner (sv)
• Turkish: jeton düştü
• Welsh: mae'r geiniog wedi syrthio

Further reading

• “the penny drops”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “the penny drops”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “the penny has dropped” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.