Meaning & Analysis
Something is so insignificant, useless, or valueless that it is not even worth a farthing—the smallest English coin of negligible value.
Insights
Worthlessness
The proverb is a concise way to dismiss anything as entirely lacking in value, merit, or consequence, whether it be an object, idea, or person’s opinion.
Disdain and Dismissal
It is often used to express disdain or utter indifference, signaling that the matter at hand is unworthy of attention or respect.
Historical Symbolism
The farthing, a coin of extremely low denomination in English currency, symbolized the barest minimum of value. The phrase became proverbial for anything not merely inexpensive, but entirely negligible.
Social and Rhetorical Use
Used in literature, politics, and everyday speech, the proverb provides a pithy rhetorical tool to minimize the importance of adversaries, ideas, or possessions, often in polemical or satirical contexts.
Universal Parallel
Many languages and cultures have equivalent expressions—'not worth a cent,' 'not worth a bean,' etc.—demonstrating the universality of the need to express utter insignificance.
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbole
The phrase exaggerates the lack of value to a near-absolute, making the dismissal vivid and unmistakable.
Metonymy
'Farthing' stands for all that is trivial or negligible, allowing for broad application beyond literal currency.
Ellipsis
The omission of details about what specifically is not worth a farthing makes the phrase punchy and adaptable.
Transcription
Quotations
As for the Popes faith (good faith's) not worth a farthing.
All the gaine that thou shalt get by this bargain is not worth a farthing.
It matters not a farthing whether he be Presbyterian or Independent.
I care not a farthing for thee.
He is not worth a brass farthing.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.