A former monetary unit of Germany equal to one hundredth of a mark, used before the euro was introduced.
From German Pfennig, which comes from Old High German penning, derived from Old Saxon penning. The word likely relates to a type of coin used in medieval Germanic regions.
The Pfennig was so common in everyday German life that it became slang for 'small amount of money'—much like how people today say 'penny' for something cheap. It was officially retired in 2001 when Germany switched to the euro, making it a relic of 20th-century European commerce.
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