Meaning & use
pennyweight
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
a unit of weight equal to 24 grains, or about 1.56 grams, used especially for precious metals and gems.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a pennyweight or two pennyweights.
Patterns
- a pennyweight of something
- measured in pennyweights
The gold chain weighs three pennyweights.
Jewelers often price silver by the pennyweight.
One pennyweight equals twenty-four grains.
Word forms
| plural | pennyweights |
|---|
Common combinations
- by the pennyweight
- Old silver is sometimes sold by the pennyweight.
- a pennyweight of gold
- He added a pennyweight of gold to the mixture.
- three pennyweights
- The pendant weighs about three pennyweights.
- pennyweight scale
- A pennyweight scale is accurate enough for small gems.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dwt
- The abbreviation dwt is used in the same technical contexts and means exactly the same unit.
Word family
Commonly confused: pennyweight or pennyworth?
pennyweight vs pennyworth
Pennyworth means an amount that costs a penny, while pennyweight is a unit of mass.
Practice
A jeweler says a ring weighs two pennyweights. About how much is that in grams?
Choose one answer.
Two pennyweights is about 3.1 grams because one pennyweight is about 1.56 grams. The option 24 grams confuses pennyweights with grains, since one pennyweight contains 24 grains.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pennyweight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.