Groat (coin) Groat (coin) The groat is the traditional name of a long-defunct English and Irish silver coin worth four pence, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and one shilling. The name has also been applied to any thick or large coin, such as the "Groschen" ("grosso"), a silver coin issued by Tyrol in 1271 and Venice in the 13th century, which was the first of this general size to circulate in the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The immediate ancestor to the groat was the French "gros tournois" or
Penny (United States coin) mm) in thickness. Its weight has varied, depending upon the composition of metals used in its production (see further below). The U.S. Mint's official name for the coin is "cent" and the U.S. Treasury's official name is "one cent piece". The colloquial term "penny" derives from the British coin of the same name, the pre-decimal version of which had a similar place in the British system. In American English, "pennies" is the plural form. (The plural form "pence"—standard in British English—is not used in reference to American coins.) Although the coin's abolition has been proposed because it is now worth