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tenner

tenner

2 7.6
A paper note worth ten dollars
  • noun
  • /ˈtɛnər/
  • Slang
translation icon : billete de diez dólares
  • She paid the bus fare with a tenner and got some change back.
  • gave a tenner

Examples

  • Oh, pop, I'll pay you a tenner to go down here.

  • I take advantage of his moment of paternal joy and ask him for a loan of a tenner.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • I slipped Jamie a tenner for his enthusiastic cooperation.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • I buy one CD for a tenner, but I may play it hundreds of times in my lifetime, and if the artist is getting a drop of money each time.

    Blog text (32)
  • Jen gave him a tenner to run off for an ice lolly, and he made it back just in time to join her at the place where the new border was being laid.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I found a tenner in my jacket pocket while cleaning.

  • He offered a tenner for the used book at the garage sale.

Synonyms

ten dollar bill
vstenner
  • US
3 1.0

Paper money from the United States worth ten dollars

is the informal everyday name rather than the official term
sawbuck
vstenner
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A ten-dollar bill in informal American English

is a general informal name rather than a slang nickname

Surface Forms

tenner singular
tenners plural
tenners plural
tenner singular

Morphology

tenner = ten (semi-transparent) = ten + er

The link to 'ten' is clear, but the suffix '-er' here specifically means a banknote or bill of that denomination, which is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Tenner is an informal name formed from ten and the small ending -er, which turns a number into a thing. So a tenner is simply a note worth 'ten dollars'.