Etymology

hearth-penny

Today it means: Synonym of Peter's pence. Full definition →

Middle English herthpeny ← Old English heorþpeniġ
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited frompeniġ“penny”
  2. Old English · inherited fromheorþ“hearth”
  3. Old English · inherited fromheorþpeniġ
  4. Middle English · inherited fromherthpeny
  5. English todayhearth-penny

From Middle English herthpeny, from Old English heorþpeniġ; from Old English heorþ (“hearth”) + Old English peniġ (“penny”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishheorþ all →

hearth

Old Englishpeniġ all →

penny

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.