Phrase guide

penny wise and pound foolish

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the British currency (one penny being one hundredth of a pound or, prior to decimalisation, one 240th of a pound).

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 捨本逐末 /舍本逐末 (shěběn-zhúmò) — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Finnish: pikkuasioissa tarkka mutta suurissa tuhlaavainen — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Greek: ακριβός στα πίτουρα και φτηνός στ’ αλεύρι (akrivós sta pítoura kai ftinós st’ alévri) — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Icelandic: spara eyrinn en kasta krónunni — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Japanese: 安物買いの銭失い (yasumono-gai no zeni-ushinai) — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Polish: oszczędny, jeśli chodzi o małe kwoty, a rozrzutny w przypadku dużych sum — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Romanian: scump la tărâțe și ieftin la făină — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Russian: эконо́мный в мелоча́х и расточи́тельный в кру́пном (ekonómnyj v meločáx i rastočítelʹnyj v krúpnom) — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Serbo-Croatian: tko štedi čavao, izgubi potkovu — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Spanish: ahorra en el chocolate del loro — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Spanish: el dinero del avaro, dos veces va al mercado — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Spanish: el dinero del pobre dos veces se gasta — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Thai: เสียน้อยเสียยาก เสียมากเสียง่าย — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Urdu: گانتھ کا پورا عقل کا اندھا (gānṭh kā pūrā, 'aqal kā andhā) — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts
  • Welsh: achub y blewyn a cholli’r bwrn — thrifty with small amounts of money but wasteful with large amounts