penny for your thoughts

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: a penny for your thoughts

Sense 1

Meaning · English

A request to know what someone is thinking

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

muốn biết người khác đang nghĩ gì

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: giving a penny in exchange for thoughts
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

You've been quiet for a while, penny for your thoughts?

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Meaning · English

English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “penny for your thoughts” mean?

A request to know what someone is thinking Literally: giving a penny in exchange for thoughts

Is “penny for your thoughts” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.