red cent
5
6.3
- noun
- /rɛd sɛnt/
- Informal
:
un centavo
- I haven't got a red cent.
- give a red cent
- collect not one red cent
- one red cent
Examples
-
We spend billions of dollars every year on research, and yet not one red cent is going to find a cure for smug.
Blog text (23) -
Because when your father finds out who you married... he'll cut you off without a red cent.
-
- Not a red cent.
-
I mean not one red cent, to no one, no how.
Blog text (14) -
I'm not giving you a red cent.
-
Nope, not giving the UK one more red cent until they get serious about football.
Blog text (19) -
I won't give you a red cent.
-
Plus, it doesn't cost a red cent.
Fiction book (1996) -
Not one red cent!
-
I worked for hours on that project, but I didn't earn a red cent.
Synonyms
∞
9.9
Something worthless or untrue that people say to you
398
6.6
Something of little or no value, often in negative phrases
35
5.5
Something of little or no value
8
8.2
A very small amount of money that hardly matters next to bigger costs
2
9.9
Something of little or no worth
1
7.9
A word people use to say something has very little value
1
9.7
A thing that has little or no value
Something of very little or no value
Antonyms
604
1.0
A large amount of money that lets you buy expensive things or do big projects
How Much
- Informal
68
2.8
604
1.0
513
1.0
- Informal
5
6.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
red + cent
While 'cent' suggests a small amount, the addition of 'red' is not compositionally meaningful for indicating 'nothing at all' and its idiomatic use is historically opaque. A B1 learner who knows 'red' and 'cent' is unlikely to infer the intended sense from the literal words alone; the phrase is an idiom whose specific colour element is unpredictable and must be learned.
Etymology
Red cent likely comes from old small copper coins that looked red and were called a cent. Because those coins were worth almost nothing, saying someone does not have a red cent means 'nothing at all' or no money.