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Glite Dictionary
ninepence

ninepence

9.9
An old British coin worth nine pennies
  • noun
  • /ˈnaɪnpɛns/
  • Archaic
translation icon : nueve peniques
  • His purse contained eighteen shillings and ninepence; Sullivan had to count the money twice before he could believe it.

Examples

  • Here's your ninepence.

    Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

  • Sullivan kept hold of it, having first restored the ninepence to the man's waistcoat pocket.

    Blog text (5)

  • One and ninepence, please, guv'nor.

    The Heart of Me (2004)

  • I reckoned it out at two shillings ninepence, sir.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • That's all at ninepence.

    This Happy Breed (1944)

  • The bakery sells a loaf of bread for ninepence.

  • He found a rare coin worth ninepence in the old chest.

  • To buy a ticket, you need to pay ninepence.

Surface Forms

ninepence singular
ninepences plural

Morphology

ninepence = nine + pence (transparent) = nine + pence

The word is a straightforward compound of 'nine' + 'pence', denoting a coin worth nine pennies.

Etymology

Ninepence is simply the number nine plus pence, the old plural of penny meaning 'pennies'. So it literally means 'nine pennies' and was the name of a British coin worth nine pennies in the past.