See penny wise and pound foolish in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for penny wise and pound foolish meaning in English (5.6kB)
{
"etymology_text": "From the British currency (one penny being one hundredth of a pound or, prior to decimalisation, one 240th of a pound).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "more penny wise and pound foolish",
"tags": [
"comparative"
]
},
{
"form": "most penny wise and pound foolish",
"tags": [
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-",
"2": "more"
},
"expansion": "penny wise and pound foolish (not generally comparable, comparative more penny wise and pound foolish, superlative most penny wise and pound foolish)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English coordinated pairs",
"parents": [
"Coordinated pairs",
"Terms by etymology"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
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"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Urdu terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1942, Harry Elmer Barnes, Society in Transition: Problems of a Changing Age, page 122",
"text": "In the past our government has nowhere been more penny wise and pound foolish than in connection with its expenditures for conservation.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts."
],
"id": "en-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish-en-adj--Y7u6Dpc",
"links": [
[
"Prudent",
"prudent"
],
[
"thrifty",
"thrifty"
],
[
"money",
"money"
],
[
"wasteful",
"wasteful"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "chase pennies with dollars"
},
{
"word": "false economy"
},
{
"word": "penny-wise"
},
{
"word": "pound-foolish"
},
{
"word": "take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "penny-wise and pound-foolish"
},
{
"word": "penny wise, pound foolish"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"not-comparable",
"usually"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "捨本逐末"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shěběn-zhúmò",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "舍本逐末"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "pikkuasioissa tarkka mutta suurissa tuhlaavainen"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "akrivós sta pítoura kai ftinós st' alévri",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "ακριβός στα πίτουρα και φτηνός στ' αλεύρι"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "spara eyrinn en kasta krónunni"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "yasumono-gai no zeni-ushinai",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "安物買いの銭失い"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ekonómnyj v meločáx i rastočítelʹnyj v krúpnom",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "эконо́мный в мелоча́х и расточи́тельный в кру́пном"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "tko štedi čavao, izgubi potkovu"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "ahorra en el chocolate del loro"
},
{
"code": "es",
"english": "proverb",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"tags": [
"dated"
],
"word": "el dinero del avaro, dos veces va al mercado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "el dinero del pobre dos veces se gasta"
},
{
"code": "ur",
"english": "proverb",
"lang": "Urdu",
"roman": "gānṭh kā pūrā, 'aqal kā andhā",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "گانتھ کا پورا عقل کا اندھا"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "achub y blewyn a cholli’r bwrn"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-penny wise and pound foolish.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "penny wise and pound foolish"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From the British currency (one penny being one hundredth of a pound or, prior to decimalisation, one 240th of a pound).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "more penny wise and pound foolish",
"tags": [
"comparative"
]
},
{
"form": "most penny wise and pound foolish",
"tags": [
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-",
"2": "more"
},
"expansion": "penny wise and pound foolish (not generally comparable, comparative more penny wise and pound foolish, superlative most penny wise and pound foolish)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"related": [
{
"word": "chase pennies with dollars"
},
{
"word": "false economy"
},
{
"word": "penny-wise"
},
{
"word": "pound-foolish"
},
{
"word": "take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English coordinated pairs",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
"Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"Urdu terms with redundant script codes"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1942, Harry Elmer Barnes, Society in Transition: Problems of a Changing Age, page 122",
"text": "In the past our government has nowhere been more penny wise and pound foolish than in connection with its expenditures for conservation.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts."
],
"links": [
[
"Prudent",
"prudent"
],
[
"thrifty",
"thrifty"
],
[
"money",
"money"
],
[
"wasteful",
"wasteful"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"not-comparable",
"usually"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-penny wise and pound foolish.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/En-au-penny_wise_and_pound_foolish.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "penny-wise and pound-foolish"
},
{
"word": "penny wise, pound foolish"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "捨本逐末"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shěběn-zhúmò",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "舍本逐末"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "pikkuasioissa tarkka mutta suurissa tuhlaavainen"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "akrivós sta pítoura kai ftinós st' alévri",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "ακριβός στα πίτουρα και φτηνός στ' αλεύρι"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "spara eyrinn en kasta krónunni"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "yasumono-gai no zeni-ushinai",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "安物買いの銭失い"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ekonómnyj v meločáx i rastočítelʹnyj v krúpnom",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "эконо́мный в мелоча́х и расточи́тельный в кру́пном"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "tko štedi čavao, izgubi potkovu"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "ahorra en el chocolate del loro"
},
{
"code": "es",
"english": "proverb",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"tags": [
"dated"
],
"word": "el dinero del avaro, dos veces va al mercado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "el dinero del pobre dos veces se gasta"
},
{
"code": "ur",
"english": "proverb",
"lang": "Urdu",
"roman": "gānṭh kā pūrā, 'aqal kā andhā",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "گانتھ کا پورا عقل کا اندھا"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts",
"word": "achub y blewyn a cholli’r bwrn"
}
],
"word": "penny wise and pound foolish"
}
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