English

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British sixpence coins struck in 1787.

Etymology

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From six +‎ pence.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsɪks.pəns/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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sixpence (countable and uncountable, plural sixpences)

  1. (obsolete, British, uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.
    Finest apples, sixpence each.
    • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 221:
      When the ferry-boat with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for the wasted time but the captain of the craft.
  2. (historical) A former British coin worth sixpence, first minted in 1551.
    Have you got two sixpences for a shilling?
    • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 55:
      "One penny, sir!" He was roused at once from his abstraction; for it was a question to himself whether he had even that in his pocket. Sixpence was, however, discovered; he paid the toll, and passed on.
    • 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

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Derived terms

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