red cent
Other forms: red cents
Use red cent to mean an amount of money so small that it's basically worthless. A waiter might complain that her tips are so bad that she didn't earn a single red cent.
You'll always find this noun in some variation of the phrase "not one red cent." A stingy person announces that he won't give a red cent to any charities, while a crafty person plans to make every Christmas gift by hand, and not spend one red cent on presents this year. The red cent is symbolic, representing an a tiny amount of money. The original U.S. copper penny was reddish and was also called a red cent.
Definitions of red cent
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something of little value“not worth one red cent”
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type of:
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ineptitude, worthlessness
having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful
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ineptitude, worthlessness
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