farthing

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Farthing names one of the very smallest coins in the old British and Irish money system, so it is narrower and more historical than penny, which can refer to the old unit or the modern one-penny coin. A halfpenny was worth two farthings, so it stood one step above this coin in everyday prices. Shilling names a much larger old unit, because one shilling equaled twelve pennies. Cent is useful for comparison only as another small coin name, but it belongs to modern decimal currencies such as dollars, not to the pre-1971 British system. In a history book you might read, 'The child bought a bun for a farthing,' not 'for a cent.'

Common collocations

Etymology

Farthing comes from an Old English word based on the idea of a fourth part. It first referred to a quarter share, and later became the name of a coin worth one quarter of a penny in the older British system.