old penny

noun

"old-penny" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“old penny” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The pre-decimalisation United Kingdom penny, ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling. Symbol: d

Corpus desk

Index EN-old-penny · old penny · English

old penny · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "O" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for old penny
PropertyValue
Headwordold penny
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “old penny” in English

old pennyranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

old penny is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for old penny, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Retronym for penny to avoid confusion with the new penny. The correct English form is old penny, spelled O-L-D- -P-E-N-N-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The pre-decimalisation United Kingdom penny, ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling. Symbol: d
  2. 2
    The pre-decimalisation Irish penny, ¹⁄₂₄₀ of an Irish pound. Symbol: d
  3. 3
    A coin worth one old penny.

Etymology

Retronym for penny to avoid confusion with the new penny.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "old penny"?
"old penny" is spelled O-L-D- -P-E-N-N-Y.
What does "old penny" mean?
As a noun, "old penny" means: The pre-decimalisation United Kingdom penny, ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling. Symbol: d
What is the origin of the word "old penny"?
Retronym for penny to avoid confusion with the new penny. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list