noun
pennyweight
PEN-ee-weight/ˈpɛniˌweɪt/
A unit of troy weight equal to twenty-four grains.
A balance measures small amounts of gold in pennyweights.
Etymology
Penny and weight refer to the actual weight of a silver penny. A coin thus supplied the original standard behind this small unit of weight.
In context
It draws at sixty pounds—not a pennyweight too much for a man of your inches.
More examples
- One pennyweight equals twenty-four grains.
- The silver pendant weighs three pennyweights.
- The invoice lists the platinum's weight in pennyweights.
Forms
pennyweight · pennyweights
Similar words
- grain
- A smaller weight unit; twenty-four grains equal one pennyweight.
- troy ounce
- A larger unit for precious metals, equal to twenty pennyweights.