noun General Slang

Yennep

/ˈjɛnɛp/ · noun · slang

Cockney back-slang for 'penny' — the smallest coin, said backwards over the barrow.

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Definitions

1

A penny. From 'penny' reversed to 'yennep', the back-slang traders used to call prices and reckon change without customers fully following the haggle.

“A yennep each or three for tuppence, take it or leave it.”
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2

In coded pricing, traders combined back-slang numbers and coins so a fellow seller could be quoted one figure while the punter heard another.

“Tell him a net, sell it to you for a yennep — mate's price.”
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3

Used loosely for small money or loose change, the coppers that made up a day's small sales.

“Made nothing but yennep all morning, not a single big sale.”
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Yennep In A Sentence

He counted out the yennep slow, hoping I'd lose track of the change.
Not worth a yennep, that bruised fruit — chuck it.
Every yennep counts when you're feeding six on a barrow's takings.

Origin & Usage

Cockney costermonger back-slang of the 1840s, part of the coded number-and-coin system Henry Mayhew (1851) described in detail and Hotten (1859) catalogued, used so sellers could talk money in front of buyers.

Variants yenepyennap
Tags #cockney#back-slang#british#uk#money

People Also Ask

What does yennep mean?

It means a penny — 'penny' said backwards in Cockney back-slang.

Why reverse the word for a coin?

So sellers could discuss real cost and profit margins out loud while haggling, keeping the customer in the dark.

What's the back-slang for a pound?

A pound was 'dunop', the same reversal trick applied to the larger unit of money.

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