"tuppence" meaning in English

See tuppence in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈtʌp(ə)ns/ [UK] Audio: En-au-tuppence.ogg [Australia] Forms: tuppences [plural]
Etymology: By surface analysis, two + pence, collective plural of penny. Same for the definition: "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)." however, this idiom is derived from this fact; in Britain it used to cost two pence ("tuppence") to post a letter, usually holding one's opinion. Etymology templates: {{surf|en|two|pence}} By surface analysis, two + pence, {{no deprecated lang param usage|Short for <span class='form-of-definition-link'><i class="Latn mention" lang="en">tuppence worth</i> <span class="mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren">(“one’s opinion”)</span></span>.|lang=}} Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)., {{short for|en|tuppence worth||one’s opinion}} Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”). Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} tuppence (countable and uncountable, plural tuppences)
  1. (British, informal, dated) Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency). Tags: British, countable, dated, informal, uncountable Categories (topical): Currencies, Genitalia, Two Categories (place): United Kingdom
    Sense id: en-tuppence-en-noun-tFTcthX0 Disambiguation of Currencies: 71 25 4 Disambiguation of Genitalia: 45 39 16 Disambiguation of Two: 57 36 6 Disambiguation of United Kingdom: 37 45 18 Categories (other): British English
  2. (British, idiomatic) Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”). Tags: British, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, idiomatic, uncountable Alternative form of: tuppence worth (extra: one’s opinion) Categories (topical): Genitalia Categories (place): Ireland, United Kingdom
    Sense id: en-tuppence-en-noun-IK4nG9JC Disambiguation of Genitalia: 45 39 16 Disambiguation of Ireland: 37 51 12 Disambiguation of United Kingdom: 37 45 18 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 33 57 10
  3. (British, slang, euphemistic, usually childish) The vulva or vagina. Tags: British, childish, countable, euphemistic, slang, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Genitalia Categories (place): United Kingdom
    Sense id: en-tuppence-en-noun--UwknAsq Disambiguation of Genitalia: 45 39 16 Disambiguation of United Kingdom: 37 45 18 Categories (other): British English, English euphemisms
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: don't give tuppence, not worth tuppence, penny plain and tuppence coloured, tuppence worth Related terms: threepence, fourpence, fivepence, sixpence, eightpence, tenpence, tuppenny

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for tuppence meaning in English (7.2kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "don't give tuppence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "not worth tuppence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "penny plain and tuppence coloured"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "tuppence worth"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "two",
        "3": "pence"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, two + pence",
      "name": "surf"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Short for <span class='form-of-definition-link'><i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"en\">tuppence worth</i> <span class=\"mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren\">(“one’s opinion”)</span></span>.",
        "lang": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).",
      "name": "no deprecated lang param usage"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tuppence worth",
        "3": "",
        "4": "one’s opinion"
      },
      "expansion": "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).",
      "name": "short for"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "By surface analysis, two + pence, collective plural of penny.\nSame for the definition: \"Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).\" however, this idiom is derived from this fact; in Britain it used to cost two pence (\"tuppence\") to post a letter, usually holding one's opinion.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tuppences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "tuppence (countable and uncountable, plural tuppences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "threepence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "fourpence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "fivepence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "sixpence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "eightpence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "tenpence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "tuppenny"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 25 4",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Currencies",
          "orig": "en:Currencies",
          "parents": [
            "Currency",
            "Money",
            "Business",
            "Economics",
            "Society",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 39 16",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Genitalia",
          "orig": "en:Genitalia",
          "parents": [
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            "Reproduction",
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            "Anatomy",
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            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 36 6",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Two",
          "orig": "en:Two",
          "parents": [
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            "All topics",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 45 18",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "United Kingdom",
          "orig": "en:United Kingdom",
          "parents": [
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            "Europe",
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            "Earth",
            "Eurasia",
            "Places",
            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Milk has gone up to tuppence ha’penny a pint."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, W. W. Jacobs, “Prize Money,”, in Sailor's Knots",
          "text": "In less than four days twenty-three men had paid their tuppences to Henery, who ’ad been made the seckitary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 11",
          "text": "‘Miss Brindle rich?’ said Aunt Maggie. ‘Bless you, she hasn’t tuppence to rub together.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency)."
      ],
      "id": "en-tuppence-en-noun-tFTcthX0",
      "links": [
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          "two"
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          "pence",
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          "decimalisation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, informal, dated) Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
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          "extra": "one’s opinion",
          "word": "tuppence worth"
        }
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          "_dis": "33 57 10",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "45 39 16",
          "kind": "topical",
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          "orig": "en:Genitalia",
          "parents": [
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            "Reproduction",
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            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "37 51 12",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 45 18",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "United Kingdom",
          "orig": "en:United Kingdom",
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            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)."
      ],
      "id": "en-tuppence-en-noun-IK4nG9JC",
      "links": [
        [
          "tuppence worth",
          "tuppence worth#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, idiomatic) Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "countable",
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 39 16",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Genitalia",
          "orig": "en:Genitalia",
          "parents": [
            "Body parts",
            "Reproduction",
            "Sex",
            "Body",
            "Anatomy",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 45 18",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "United Kingdom",
          "orig": "en:United Kingdom",
          "parents": [
            "British Isles",
            "Europe",
            "Islands",
            "Earth",
            "Eurasia",
            "Places",
            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Kunt and the Gang, Fucksticks (song)",
          "text": "\"Fucksticks!\" When some smart-arse bastard gives me my comeuppance / \"Fucksticks!\" When it’s ages since I’ve seen a lady’s tuppence"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Richard Johns, Diagnosis of the Soul: The Long Road to the Beginning",
          "text": "The lady confided to the nurse helping her up off the examination couch, and told her “He put his hand up me funnel and made me tuppence bleed!”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The vulva or vagina."
      ],
      "id": "en-tuppence-en-noun--UwknAsq",
      "links": [
        [
          "childish",
          "childish"
        ],
        [
          "vulva",
          "vulva"
        ],
        [
          "vagina",
          "vagina"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, slang, euphemistic, usually childish) The vulva or vagina."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "childish",
        "countable",
        "euphemistic",
        "slang",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtʌp(ə)ns/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tuppence.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/En-au-tuppence.ogg/En-au-tuppence.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/En-au-tuppence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Two pence (British decimal coin)"
  ],
  "word": "tuppence"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English short forms",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "en:Currencies",
    "en:Genitalia",
    "en:Ireland",
    "en:Two",
    "en:United Kingdom"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "don't give tuppence"
    },
    {
      "word": "not worth tuppence"
    },
    {
      "word": "penny plain and tuppence coloured"
    },
    {
      "word": "tuppence worth"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Short for <span class='form-of-definition-link'><i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"en\">tuppence worth</i> <span class=\"mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren\">(“one’s opinion”)</span></span>.",
        "lang": ""
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      "expansion": "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).",
      "name": "no deprecated lang param usage"
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        "4": "one’s opinion"
      },
      "expansion": "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).",
      "name": "short for"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "By surface analysis, two + pence, collective plural of penny.\nSame for the definition: \"Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).\" however, this idiom is derived from this fact; in Britain it used to cost two pence (\"tuppence\") to post a letter, usually holding one's opinion.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tuppences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "expansion": "tuppence (countable and uncountable, plural tuppences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "threepence"
    },
    {
      "word": "fourpence"
    },
    {
      "word": "fivepence"
    },
    {
      "word": "sixpence"
    },
    {
      "word": "eightpence"
    },
    {
      "word": "tenpence"
    },
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    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English dated terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Milk has gone up to tuppence ha’penny a pint."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, W. W. Jacobs, “Prize Money,”, in Sailor's Knots",
          "text": "In less than four days twenty-three men had paid their tuppences to Henery, who ’ad been made the seckitary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 11",
          "text": "‘Miss Brindle rich?’ said Aunt Maggie. ‘Bless you, she hasn’t tuppence to rub together.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency)."
      ],
      "links": [
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, informal, dated) Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
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          "extra": "one’s opinion",
          "word": "tuppence worth"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English idioms",
        "English short forms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tuppence worth",
          "tuppence worth#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, idiomatic) Short for tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "countable",
        "idiomatic",
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    },
    {
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        "English euphemisms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "2011, Kunt and the Gang, Fucksticks (song)",
          "text": "\"Fucksticks!\" When some smart-arse bastard gives me my comeuppance / \"Fucksticks!\" When it’s ages since I’ve seen a lady’s tuppence"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Richard Johns, Diagnosis of the Soul: The Long Road to the Beginning",
          "text": "The lady confided to the nurse helping her up off the examination couch, and told her “He put his hand up me funnel and made me tuppence bleed!”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The vulva or vagina."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "childish"
        ],
        [
          "vulva",
          "vulva"
        ],
        [
          "vagina",
          "vagina"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, slang, euphemistic, usually childish) The vulva or vagina."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "childish",
        "countable",
        "euphemistic",
        "slang",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtʌp(ə)ns/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tuppence.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/En-au-tuppence.ogg/En-au-tuppence.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/En-au-tuppence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Two pence (British decimal coin)"
  ],
  "word": "tuppence"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.