sixpence
English
British sixpence coins struck in 1787.
Etymology
From six + pence.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsɪks.pəns/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
sixpence (countable and uncountable, plural sixpences)
- (obsolete, Britain, uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.
- Finest apples, sixpence each.
- (historical) A former British coin worth sixpence, first minted in 1551.
- Have you got two sixpences for a shilling?
- 1994, Neil Gaiman, Mr. Punch:
- I remember playing card games with my grandfather. Games of memory, not of skill. If I won, he gave me sixpence; if he won, he didn't. We would play until I was bored, or until he ran out of sixpences.
Synonyms
- tanner (colloquial)
- lord, tester, tizzy, hog, pig, sow's baby (all slang and dated, archaic, or obsolete)
Derived terms
- on a sixpence
Related terms
- twopence, tuppence
- threepence
- fourpence
- fivepence
- eightpence
- tenpence