two cents

English

Alternative forms

• $0.02 (informal)
• 2¢ (rare)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

two cents pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) One's opinion or thoughts.

   That's just my two cents, you can believe what you like.

2. (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) A nearly worthless amount, alluding to placing a copper penny on each of the eyelids of a pauper's or slave's body before burial.

   That car won't last a week, it's not worth two cents.

Usage notes

Two cents and two cents' worth have eclipsed the native two pennies' worth in England even though the cent is not a unit of currency there.

Synonyms

• (opinions or thoughts): two pennies' worth (UK)
• (opinions or thoughts): tuppence worth, tuppenceworth, tuppence-worth (UK)
• (opinions or thoughts): two penn’orth, twopenn’orth, two pennorth (UK)
• (nearly worthless amount): farthing

Derived terms

• two cents' worth

Translations

one's opinion

• French: mes deux cents (fr) (literally “my two cents”), grain de sel (fr) m (literally “grain of salt”)
• Hungarian: vélemény (hu), magánvélemény (hu)
• Polish: trzy grosze pl
• Russian: пять копе́ек f pl (pjatʹ kopéjek, literally “five copecks”), ле́пта (ru) f (lépta)
• Spanish: granito de arena m pl

worthless amount

• Danish: flad femøre c, klink c
• Hungarian: fillér (hu), fitying (hu), fabatka (hu), lyukas garas
• Persian: دو زار (do zâr), دو زار و ده شاهی (do zâr o dah šâhi)
• Russian: не сто́ить вы́еденного яйца́ impf (ne stóitʹ výjedennovo jajcá, literally “to be not worth an eaten egg”), не сто́ить ло́маного гроша́ impf (ne stóitʹ lómanovo grošá, literally “to be not worth a broken half-copeck coin”)

See also

• for my money