Penny Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, the name remains in informal use. No penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings (¼ d.), halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill (1/10¢) remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. "Penny" is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English ', a development of numerous variations including ', ', and '. The etymology of the term "penny" is uncertain, although cognates are
Quarter (unit) quarter (qr. av. or quartier) came to mean ¼ of a hundredweight: 2 stone or 28 avoirdupois pounds (about 12.7 kg). In measures of dry volume, it was equivalent to the seam or 8 bushels of 8 grain gallons of 272 cubic inches. In measures of liquid volume at the time of the Magna Carta, the quarter of wine was (originally) ¼ tun: 8 London bushels or 64 wine gallons. The tun was subsequently defined down 4 gallons to 252 and the quarter was effectively ¼ pipe or butt. The quarter of wine was a gallon larger than a hogshead.