Etymology

pennyweight

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Today it means: A unit of mass equal to 24 grains, or ¹⁄₂₀ of a troy ounce. Full definition →

Middle English penyweight
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frompenyweight
  2. English todaypennyweight

From Middle English penyweight; equivalent to penny + weight: it was the weight of a silver penny (¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.