two cents

English

Alternative forms

• $0.02 (informal)
• 2¢ (rare)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

two cents pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) One's opinion or thoughts.

   That's just my two cents, you can believe what you like.

2. (US, idiomatic, colloquial) A nearly worthless amount, alluding to placing a copper penny on each of the eyelids of a pauper's or slave's body before burial.

   That car won't last a week, it's not worth two cents.

Usage notes

Two cents and two cents' worth have eclipsed the native two pennies' worth in England even though the cent is not a unit of currency there.

Synonyms

• (opinions or thoughts): two pennies' worth (UK)
• (opinions or thoughts): tuppence worth, tuppenceworth, tuppence-worth (UK)
• (opinions or thoughts): two penn’orth, twopenn’orth, two pennorth (UK)
• (nearly worthless amount): farthing

Derived terms

• two cents' worth

Translations

one's opinion

• French: mes deux cents (fr) (literally “my two cents”), grain de sel (fr) m (literally “grain of salt”)
• Hungarian: vélemény (hu), magánvélemény (hu)
• Polish: trzy grosze pl
• Russian: пять копе́ек f pl (pjatʹ kopéjek, literally “five copecks”), ле́пта (ru) f (lépta)
• Spanish: granito de arena m pl

worthless amount

• Danish: flad femøre c, klink c
• Hungarian: fillér (hu), fitying (hu), fabatka (hu), lyukas garas
• Persian: دو زار (do zâr), دو زار و ده شاهی (do zâr o dah šâhi)
• Russian: не сто́ить вы́еденного яйца́ impf (ne stóitʹ výjedennovo jajcá, literally “to be not worth an eaten egg”), не сто́ить ло́маного гроша́ impf (ne stóitʹ lómanovo grošá, literally “to be not worth a broken half-copeck coin”)

See also

• for my money