sou

sou — noun

1. an extremely small sum of money, almost nothing at all — used especially when sa

1.名詞B2
釋義

an extremely small sum of money, almost nothing at all — used especially when saying someone has none left or refuses to accept even the smallest payment

例句

After paying the rent, Indra did not have a sou left for food.

negative: not have a sou

The old fisherman died without a sou, but the village remembered his kindness.

negative: without a sou

同義詞
  • cent

    the most common small monetary unit worldwide, but rarely used idiomatically for 'almost nothing' in the way sou is

  • penny

    a British coin; used similarly in phrases like 'not a penny' but far more frequent in everyday contexts

  • farthing

    a former British coin worth a quarter of a penny; now a purely literary or historical term, comparable to sou in its dated feel

  • dime

    a US ten-cent coin; appears in phrases like 'a dime a dozen' but does not carry the 'zero money' connotation of sou

反義詞
  • fortune

    a very large amount of money, opposite of a tiny sum

  • wealth

    abundance of valuable resources, contrasting with the near-nothingness implied by sou

文法句型

not a sou

without a sou

用法筆記

Almost always appears in negative or near-negative contexts (not a sou, without a sou, never a sou, barely a sou). Outside these set patterns the word sounds dated or literary.

常見錯誤

❌I found a sou on the street and bought a coffee.
✅I found a coin on the street and bought a coffee.
💡Using 'sou' in a positive, literal context sounds unnatural; the word is reserved for negative idiomatic uses or historical references.

2. a small French coin made of copper or bronze that was used in the past, worth on

2.名詞B1
釋義

a small French coin made of copper or bronze that was used in the past, worth only a tiny fraction of a franc

例句

Layla found a rusty old sou buried in her grandmother's garden in Lyon.

In 18th-century Paris a single sou could buy a loaf of bread.

historical context: a sou's buying power

同義詞
  • centime

    the French cent, also 1/100 of a franc; a sou was worth 5 centimes

  • denier

    an even older French medieval coin, earlier than the sou

  • liard

    a French copper coin worth 3 deniers, roughly contemporary with the sou

反義詞
  • louis d'or

    a large French gold coin worth many livres, the opposite of a tiny copper sou

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense refers to the actual historical coin, not to the idiomatic idea of a tiny sum. If the sentence describes a physical object or a historical buying price, it belongs to this sense.

常見錯誤

❌The beggar asked for a sou.
✅The beggar asked for a coin.
💡Using 'sou' to mean a present-day coin is confusing; modern readers expect the idiomatic or historical sense.