What does eightpence mean?
Eightpence is a noun denoting the sum of eight pennies, most familiar from Britain's pre-decimal currency system, in which it was written as '8d'. Under that system, which lasted until decimalisation in February 1971, twelve pence made a shilling and 240 pence made a pound, so eightpence represented a modest but meaningful amount of everyday spending power — enough for small purchases such as bread, milk, or a bus fare in mid-twentieth-century Britain. The word functions as an amount rather than naming a widely circulating single coin, though it occasionally referred to a coin of that value. Since decimalisation, 'eightpence' has largely fallen out of daily speech and survives mainly in historical fiction, memoirs, and discussions of old prices, where it evokes a vanished world of shillings and pence. Its plural form is identical to the singular, as it names a quantity rather than countable units.
nounThe sum or value of eight pennies, especially in the former British pre-decimal currency system, where it was written as '8d'. It could refer to an amount of money rather than to any single coin.
- A sum of money equal to eight pennies, especially under the pre-decimal British currency system (written 8d).
- (Rare) A coin worth eight pence.
"The loaf cost him eightpence at the village bakery."
"A pint of milk and a newspaper came to just eightpence."
"Grandmother remembered when a bus ticket into town cost eightpence."
'Eightpence' names a sum of money, so it is invariant: no separate plural exists. Multiple sums are expressed periphrastically, e.g. 'two sums of eightpence each'.
"Each of the children received eightpence for their errand."
In Britain's old money, eightpence (8d) survived until 1971 — when it became exactly three and one-third new pence, a fraction the new decimal coins couldn't neatly express.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eightpence
Eightpence is formed transparently from the numeral 'eight' plus 'pence', the plural of 'penny', a word going back to Old English 'pening' or 'penig', whose ultimate origins are uncertain but which has close relatives in other Germanic languages, notably the German 'Pfennig'. Compounds pairing numerals with coin values were a natural pattern in English, giving parallel forms such as sixpence, tenpence, and twopence. The term was standard throughout the centuries of sterling's pre-decimal system and became obsolete in everyday use after Britain's decimalisation in 1971.
Related word forms
How eightpence is actually used
'Eightpence' belongs chiefly to the era of British pre-decimal currency (before February 1971), where twelve pence made a shilling and it was abbreviated '8d'. Today it appears almost exclusively in historical writing, memoirs, and literature set in earlier periods. The plural form is unchanged ('eightpence' refers to the amount, not counted items).
Easily confused with eightpence
'Eighteen' is the number between seventeen and nineteen, whereas 'eightpence' is a sum of money equal to eight pennies in pre-decimal British currency.