Quartereen means: An obsolete British slang term for a farthing, the smallest denomination of British pre-decimal currency - worth one quarter of a penny. The word is a diminutive formation, reinforcing the coin's. The word is mostly archaic or historical; you will only encounter it in old texts, period drama, or school history rather than current teen conversation. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour.
quartereen
An obsolete British slang term for a farthing, the smallest denomination of British pre-decimal currency — worth one quarter of a penny.
Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 28, 2026UK
An obsolete British slang term for a farthing, the smallest denomination of British pre-decimal currency — worth one quarter of a penny. The word is a diminutive formation, reinforcing the coin's negligible value. It appears in 18th and 19th-century slang dictionaries and literary works depicting working-class or criminal slang, where coins of every denomination had their own vocabulary. The farthing itself was withdrawn from circulation in 1960, taking most of its slang synonyms with it.
He rummaged in his pocket and came up with nothing but a quartereen and a bit of tobacco fluff.
Origin: Diminutive derived from 'quarter' (one quarter of a penny), with the suffix '-een,' a common diminutive ending in Irish and some British dialects; the coin's Hiberno-English and cant associations suggest Irish influence. Editorial expansion authored on Slangora (model-assisted, hedged).
For parents
Quartereen means: An obsolete British slang term for a farthing, the smallest denomination of British pre-decimal currency - worth one quarter of a penny. The word is a diminutive formation, reinforcing the coin's. The word is mostly archaic or historical; you will only encounter it in old texts, period drama, or school history rather than current teen conversation. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour.
For ESL learners
quartereen means: An obsolete British slang term for a farthing, the smallest denomination of British pre-decimal currency - worth one quarter of a penny. The word is a diminutive formation,. Register: archaic, historical. Almost never used today; you will find it only in older texts, dictionaries of dialect, or historical writing. Avoid in active vocabulary. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.
Cluster: criminal
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
(UK, obsolete, slang) A farthing.
Cluster: general
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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UK
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "quartereen" (Q)
quarterbackingquarter bathroomquarter-blokequarter-castequarter-dayquarter-eaterquarterlessquarterly courtquarter notequarter-sectionquarter-up pricequarter water
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Related terms
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Semantically related
- fortypenny61%
(UK) Having a value or cost of forty pence.
- saltee61%
British slang, now obsolete, for a penny -- specifically one of the old pre-decimal pennies. The word was used in street slang and thieves' cant, particularly associated with market traders and itinerant sellers in Victorian London. It survives in historical accounts of urban low life and old glossaries of English cant vocabulary. Fell out of use as the pre-decimal currency disappeared.
- four-and-nine60%
(UK, slang, obsolete) A cheap hat.
- fiddler's money59%
British archaic slang for small change — coins of little individual value. The phrase conjures the image of a street musician passing a hat and collecting whatever people tossed in: pennies, halfpennies, the occasional threepence. It speaks to a transaction conducted in the smallest denominations, the kind of money you pull from the bottom of your pocket without looking. While largely archaic, it occasionally surfaces in historical fiction or when someone wants a period-flavored way to describe loose coins.