Meaning
In informal British English, a tenner means ten pounds or a banknote worth ten pounds, and it is also used casually for a price, contribution, or amount of £10.
How it is used
Cambridge Dictionary labels tenner as UK informal and defines it as ten pounds or a note worth ten pounds. Collins independently records the British informal sense as a ten-pound note or the sum of ten pounds. The word is therefore used both for the physical note and for an amount or price of £10.
Examples
- “We all put in a tenner.”
- “Lunch was under a tenner.”
- “Can you break a tenner?”
Pronunciation
/ˈten.ə/ · TEN-uh
Tone and register
Informal, familiar, and neutral in everyday British conversation. Ten pounds or a ten-pound note is preferable where precise formal financial wording matters.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can understand a tenner as £10 in British conversation. In American English, tenner can instead refer to a ten-dollar bill, so context matters. Phrases such as under a tenner refer to a price below £10, while break a tenner means exchange the note for smaller denominations. Current note designs, cash acceptance, exchange rates, and banking rules are outside this vocabulary entry.
Cultural context
Tenner is a common conversational denomination word used for prices, small contributions, cash, gifts, bets, and everyday spending. It pairs naturally with fiver and quid and is useful to recognize in shops, markets, pubs, restaurants, and casual conversation throughout Britain, not only in London.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.