fifty-cent piece
1
1.8
- noun
- /ˈfɪfti sɛnt piːs/
- US
:
moneda de cincuenta centavos
- The old man pulled out a shiny fifty-cent piece from his pocket to buy a soda.
Examples
-
Taking his good old time, Jack lowers and folds the paper and finally holds up a fifty-cent piece.
Fiction book (1992) -
Finished shaving, Pete took off the voluminous cloth covering Luke and bowed as the boy handed him the fifty-cent piece.
Fiction book (2001) -
I told him about the time my father's Christmas present to me was two fifty-cent pieces.
Fiction book (1998) -
She signed to him to hold the child while she put the fifty-cent piece away.
Fiction book (1991) -
It's an old 1954 fifty-cent piece with Ben Franklin on the front and the Liberty Bell on the back.
Fiction book (1993) -
A few dimes, quarters, and fifty-cent pieces lie glinting at the bottom of the basin.
Fiction book (1996) -
Digging underneath my grandfather's moment of glory, I find silver dollars worn to the color of pewter and Kennedy fifty-cent pieces wrapped in tissue, still as shiny as new.
Fiction book (1994) -
While cleaning the couch, I found a fifty-cent piece wedged between the cushions.
-
I have a collection of rare coins, including a 1964 fifty-cent piece with Kennedy's portrait.
Synonyms
3
1.4
A United States coin worth fifty cents
A United States coin worth half a dollar
How Valuable
Surface Forms
Morphology
fifty-cent + piece
The phrase is compositionally built: 'fifty' + 'cent' specifies the monetary value and 'piece' refers to a coin or unit, so the meaning 'a coin worth fifty cents' is directly inferable from the parts. This denomination pattern is common across languages and standard in English, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would understand it.
Etymology
Fifty-cent piece names a coin worth fifty-cent, literally 'half a dollar', and piece is an old word for a coin. So the phrase simply describes the half-dollar and that is why it means 'a coin worth fifty cents' today.