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Where did the word 'two bits' come from?
Where did the term “two-bit” come from?
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Nov 6, 2023 · Lately I‘ve been curious – why do Americans say "two bits" when referring lightheartedly to a quarter dollar? Where did this odd slang come from? In exploring this linguistic curiosity, I discovered the key lies in early Spanish coins that were quite literally cut into "bits".
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The quarter's nickname "two bits" comes from a time when Spanish dollar where in use in the US and were cut into 8 smaller parts, each one worth 12 1⁄2c.
The cultural insights related to the usage of “two-bit” stem from its origins in American slang during the early 20th century. The term was commonly used in reference to coins worth 25 cents (or two bits), which were considered small change at the time.
Before this, two bits referred to 25 cents or one quarter of a US dollar, and derives from the word 'bit', which was used in both England and America from the mid-1700s onwards to denote a coin of little value.
Aug 15, 2018 · When Cortes moved into a home in 1521 in what is today the Mexico City suburb of Coyoacn, he established the second foundry in order to meet the demand for currency and produced “more than 130,000...
- Coinweek
Sep 27, 2024 · two-bit. (adj.) 1802, "of the value or for the sum of 25 U.S. cents," from two bits "one quarter of a dollar," attested by 1730, in reference to the Mexican real, a large coin (the predominant currency in colonial America) that often was cut into eight bits; see bit (n.1).
Feb 23, 2013 · Turns out the phrase has its roots in the Spanish conquest of the Americas and the river of silver that flowed from the mines of Potosí to the royal coffers in Madrid. * In 1497, their Most Catholic Majesties** Ferdinand and Isabella introduced a new coin into the global economy as part of a general currency reform.
