Fardings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small historical coins used as currency in medieval times; minor monetary units employed in trade and commerce; pieces of low-value coinage circulating in earlier financial systems
2. Low-denomination coins from past eras used mainly for everyday transactions; fractional money units forming part of larger currency systems; small change in historical monetary exchanges
3. Minor coins once common in financial dealings during medieval periods; fractional currency pieces that facilitated commerce; low-value coinage used in old trading economies

Etymology: "Fardings" is the plural of "farding", and the singular is itself a derivative of "farthing". Farthings were English coins worth a quarter of a penny, and the name comes from Old English "feorðing", a compound of "feorða", meaning "fourth", and the suffix "-ing", which marks a fraction or part. So a farthing was literally a fourth part of a penny, a neat piece of arithmetic built into the coin's name. The plural form "fardings" uses the same elements, but the spelling reflects the older "farding" variant, which was a regular alternative for the coin in medieval and early modern usage. Because the coin was so small, the word came to stand for trifles in general, which is why "not worth a farthing" became a common expression for something of no value.

Synonyms: coins, farthings