This is a transliteration of the Latin 'quadrans,' a small Roman copper coin worth one quarter of an as (assarion). Jesus uses it in Matthew 5:26 in His teaching about reconciliation: you will never get out of prison until you have paid the last quadrans—every last cent of your debt. Mark 12:42 uses it to define the value of the widow's two copper coins (λεπτά): together they made a quadrans. The term emphasizes the smallest possible monetary unit, the 'last penny' or 'last farthing' that represents complete and total payment or poverty.