Meaning
A considerable amount of money. Usually said of something expensive ('cost a pretty penny') or of a handsome profit or income ('made a pretty penny'), with pretty in its older sense of considerable or sizable rather than attractive. Informal but long-established and widely understood; nearly always follows cost, pay, charge, make, or worth. Learners should note that pretty here means sizable, not pretty to look at. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Older than many money idioms: early eighteenth-century Britain. The Phrase Finder and Wiktionary both trace it to the playwright Susanna Centlivre: The Man's Bewitch'd (written 1709, its early printing dated 1710) contains 'here may be a pretty penny towards', and her Mar-plot (1711) uses the variant 'a fine penny' in a wager context that confirms the modern sense; 'a fair penny' also circulated early. The Phrase Finder concedes the 1710 example alone is not conclusive but argues that reading the two plays together establishes the modern meaning by 1710-11. Later attested uses include Thackeray's Pendennis (1848-50), George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Galsworthy (1906), showing an unbroken run into modern English.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- cost a pretty penny
- pay a pretty penny
- worth a pretty penny
Usage Examples
- Renovating that Victorian terrace cost a pretty penny, but the original cornicing helped sell the place.
- Whoever restored those grandfather clocks properly must have charged a pretty penny for the work.
- Her first novel earned a pretty penny once the film rights sold, surprising everyone at the tiny press.