Below is a massive list of money words — that is, words related to money. The top 4 are: cash, currency, fund and time. You can get the definition(s) of a word in the list below by tapping the question-mark icon next to it. The words at the top of the list are the ones most associated with money, and as you go down the relatedness becomes more slight. By default, the words are sorted by relevance/relatedness, but you can also get the most common money terms by using the menu below, and there’s also the option to sort the words alphabetically so you can get money words starting with a particular letter. You can also filter the word list so it only shows words that are also related to another word of your choosing. So for example, you could enter «cash» and click «filter», and it’d give you words that are related to money and cash.
You can highlight the terms by the frequency with which they occur in the written English language using the menu below. The frequency data is extracted from the English Wikipedia corpus, and updated regularly. If you just care about the words’ direct semantic similarity to money, then there’s probably no need for this.
There are already a bunch of websites on the net that help you find synonyms for various words, but only a handful that help you find related, or even loosely associated words. So although you might see some synonyms of money in the list below, many of the words below will have other relationships with money — you could see a word with the exact opposite meaning in the word list, for example. So it’s the sort of list that would be useful for helping you build a money vocabulary list, or just a general money word list for whatever purpose, but it’s not necessarily going to be useful if you’re looking for words that mean the same thing as money (though it still might be handy for that).
If you’re looking for names related to money (e.g. business names, or pet names), this page might help you come up with ideas. The results below obviously aren’t all going to be applicable for the actual name of your pet/blog/startup/etc., but hopefully they get your mind working and help you see the links between various concepts. If your pet/blog/etc. has something to do with money, then it’s obviously a good idea to use concepts or words to do with money.
If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the list below, or if there’s some sort of bug and it’s not displaying money related words, please send me feedback using this page. Thanks for using the site — I hope it is useful to you! 🐺
That’s about all the money related words we’ve got! I hope this list of money terms was useful to you in some way or another. The words down here at the bottom of the list will be in some way associated with money, but perhaps tenuously (if you’ve currenly got it sorted by relevance, that is). If you have any feedback for the site, please share it here, but please note this is only a hobby project, so I may not be able to make regular updates to the site. Have a nice day! 🐁
Some people often ask these questions: what are words related to money? what is another slang word for money? what do you call someone who is too careful with money? what are some positive words to describe money? In fact, this post will shed light on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and some slang words associated with money.
Money is a pretty important aspect of our lives, that is why there are plenty of different words and phrases to talk about money. For example:
- cash
- check
- fund
- pay
- property
- salary
- wage
- wealth
- banknote
- bread
- coin
- hard cash
Most people work hard to get money. We need money to buy clothes, food, etc. We can use a credit card, check or cash to buy things. Therefore, how do I talk about money in English? How can u describe money? Below is a chart that will help you boost your money vocabulary words. Also, money words example sentences will be listed to clarify the meaning of every word.
Money Words: Synonyms For Money With Example Sentences
Synonyms For Money | Money Example Sentences |
cash | Sabina went to the ATM to get some cash. |
funds | Last month, our family’s funds were a little low. |
bill | In the United States, the $5 bill has a picture of Abraham Lincoln. |
capital | The starting capital of the new firm was around 100.000 $ |
check | Bankers claim that new forms of check fraud raised lately. |
salary | Pete is on a salary of $ 20.000 |
banknote | They illegally forged banknotes. |
currency | Carl doesn’t like coins, he prefers to carry only paper currency. |
bread | father will buy that bike for his kids when he gets some bread. |
silver | Anna needs $ 1 in silver for the parking meter. |
change | I didn’t have any change for the phone. |
property | Property prices in downtown have enormously dropped. |
pay | Bill’s job is hard work, that is why he gets a pay raise. |
wealth | Mr. Richardson’s wealth is estimated at around $ 250 million |
wage | The company pays wages on Saturdays. |
chips | He needed some chips for the parking meter. |
payment | He prefers cash as a method of payment. |
dough | Brother spent a lot of dough on his new tablet. |
finances | Finance for health comes from taxpayers. |
bankroll | The family’s bankroll right now is a total of $ 5.000 |
bucks | The stereo costs $ 10 bucks. |
coin | The young man moved to the big city seeking work that pays a lot of coins. |
gravy | The ten percent profit is gravy for our business. |
coinage | They collect gold and silver coinage. |
gold | Gold does never buy happiness. |
loot | Thieves have stolen a big amount of loot. |
greenbacks | She needs 5 greenbacks to buy the notebook. |
pesos | The poor couple had only a few pesos to buy food for the children. |
resources | Bianca doesn’t have enough resources to buy a used car. |
riches | Her father was pretty lucky to have a business that has brought him great riches. |
treasure | They discovered treasures buried in the old backyard. |
wherewithal | Antony has the wherewithal to pay cash for the new house. |
hard cash | Do you have any hard cash? |
wad | She gave them a thick wad of $ 20 notes. |
legal tender | This type of coin is no longer considered legal tender. |
long green | Where did Janet get the long green to afford a car like that? |
exchange | That bank offers the best exchange rate. |
What Is Another Slang Word for Money? 100 Slang Words For Money
Actually, money is a major thing that most people cannot do without or live without. Money has a vast and rich bank of terms and vocabulary items. thus, What is another slang word for money? This is an interesting chart that compiles 100+ slang terms for money.
Tender | Resources | Gold | Frogskin | Rack | Folding stuff |
Sawbucks | Bacon | Franklins | Salad | Gouda | C note |
Cheddar | Hamilton | Scratch | Figgas | Cheese | Pesos |
Skrilla | Nickel | Chips | Moola | Riches | Bucks |
Loot | Bread | Large | Bank | Five spot | Lucci |
Ten spot | G “grand” | K | Lucre | Nuggets | Brass (UK) |
Fins | Tamales | Cha-ching | Quid | Gelt | Jackson |
Simoleon | Long green | Paper | Funds | Lettuce | Fiver |
Tenners | Cabbage | Gwop | Ones | Bills | Chalupa |
Wonga | Stash | Chump change | Dollar dollar bill y’all | Smackers | Dough |
Boodle | Dosh | M | Clams | MM (or MN) | Stacks |
Yard | Treasure | Bankroll | Spondulix | Greenbacks | Bones |
Ducketts | Cream | Wampum | Cake | Wad | Dime |
Green | Guap | Buckaroos | Yaper | Coin | Mil |
Knots | cash money | Grand | Dubs | Doubloons | Celery |
Hundies | Chump change | Blue cheddar | Bones | Grant | Grease |
Bean | Dead presidents | Plunder | Capital | Bookoo bucks | Fetti |
Mega bucks | Scrilla | Ducats | Five-spot | Benjamins | Benji |
Green | Big ones | Payola | Dinero | Gwala | Commas |
What do you call someone who is too careful with money?
There are many words in English for someone who is very careful with money and doesn’t like to spend it. For instance, we can use such terms as a miser, cheapskate, scrooge, etc. However, all of these words are used in a derogative way, and none can be guaranteed not to offend or bother others. These are words you can use in a negative and insulting way to describe someone who doesn’t like to spend money.
- mean
- miser
- stingy
- sparing
- pinchpenny
- scrooge
- cheap
- stinting
- parsimonious
- penny-pinching
- tight
- Ungenerous
- tightfisted
- uncharitable
- ungenerous
- penny-pincher
- skinflint
- Piker
- Avaricious
- curmudgeon
- tightwad
- Penurious
- cheapskate
- chintzy
- close
- tightfisted
- Cheese-paring
- closefisted
- mingy
- miserly
- niggard
- penurious
- pinching
- spare
- niggardly
On the other hand, if we want to say nicely that someone doesn’t waste money, in this case, adjectives will work better. These are words to use to nicely describe a person who doesn’t like to spend money.
- frugal
- penny-wise
- thrifty
- economical
- economizing
- provident
- scrimping
- sparing
Word Search Money Vocabulary
Do you like word search games? Have fun finding Money Vocabulary with this word search. Enjoy solving it with your kids or students.
Updated on March 26, 2018
The words below are some of the most important used when talking about money and finance. Each group of words in related and each word has an example sentence to provide context for learning. Practice using these words in writing in daily discussions concerning money. You can also learn idioms using «money» if these words are too easy.
Banking
- account — I have a savings and a checking account at the bank.
- bank statement — Most people view bank statements online these days.
- bankrupt — Unfortunately the business went bankrupt three years ago.
- borrow — She borrowed money to purchase a car.
- budget — It’s important to stick to your budget in order to save money.
- cash — Rich prefers to pay with cash rather than by credit card.
- cashier — The cashier can ring this up for you.
- check — Could I pay by check or do you prefer cash?
- credit (card) — I’d like to put this on my credit card and pay it off over three months.
- debit card — Nowadays, most people pay for daily expenses using a debit card.
- currency — I enjoyed living in Europe when there were many different colorful currencies.
- debt — Too much debt can ruin your life.
- deposit — I need to go to the bank and deposit a few checks.
- exchange rate — The exchange rate is very favorable today.
- interest (rate) — You can get a very low interest rate on this loan.
- invest — It’s a good idea to invest some money in real estate.
- investment — Peter made an investment in some stock and did very well.
- lend — Banks lend money to qualified customers.
- loan — He took out a loan to purchase the car.
- mortgage — Most people have to take out a mortgage to buy a house.
- owe — I still owe $3,000 to the bank.
- pay — The boss paid his employees on the last Friday of each month.
- save — Save money every month and you’ll be happy someday.
- savings — I keep my savings in a different bank with higher interest.
- withdraw — I’d like to withdraw $500 from my account.
Buying
- bargain — I got a great bargain on a new car.
- bill — The bill for the repairs came to $250.
- cost — How much did that shirt cost?
- expense — Alice had some extra expenses this month.
- installments — You can pay in ten easy installments of $99.
- price — I’m afraid I can’t lower the price of the car.
- purchase — How much food did you purchase at the supermarket?
- purse — She left her purse at home, so I’ll pay for lunch.
- receipt — Always keep receipts when purchasing electronics.
- reduction — We’re offering a special price reduction today.
- refund — My daughter didn’t like these pants. Can I get a refund?
- spend — How much money do you spend every month?
- wallet — He took $200 out of his wallet to pay for dinner.
Earning
- bonus — Some bosses give a bonus at the end of the year.
- earn — She earns over $100,000 per year.
- earnings — Our companies earnings were less than expected so the boss didn’t give us a bonus.
- income — Did you have any investment income to declare?
- gross income — Our gross income rose 12% this year.
- net income — We had a lot of costs, so our net income fell.
- raise — Her boss gave her a raise because she’s such a great employee.
- salary — The job has a great salary and a lot of benefits.
- wage — Part-time jobs tend to pay hourly wages.
Giving
- collection — The church took a collection to help the poor family.
- donate — It’s important to donate to charity these days.
- donation — You can make a tax-deductible donation to help us out.
- fee — There are a few fees that you’ll have to pay.
- fine — I had to pay a fine because I was late with the payment.
- grant — The school received a governmental grant to do the research.
- income tax — Most countries have an income tax, but a few lucky ones don’t.
- inheritance — SHe came into a large inheritance last year, so she doesn’t need to work.
- pension — Many elderly live on a small pension.
- pocket money — It’s important to give your children pocket money.
- rent — Rent is so expensive in this city.
- scholarship — If you’re lucky, you’ll win a scholarship to attend university.
- tip — I always leave a tip unless the service is very bad.
- winnings — She invested her winnings from Las Vegas in a crazy company.
Verbs
- add up — The bookkeeping doesn’t add up correctly. Let’s recalculate.
- go up / down — The price of the stock went up 14%.
- make ends meet — More and more people are finding it difficult to make ends meet these days.
- pay back — Tom paid back the loan in three years.
- pay into — I pay a small amount into a retirement account every month.
- put down — She put down $30,000 towards the purchase of the house.
- run out — Have you ever run out of money before the end of the month?
- save up — I’ve saved up over $10,000 to buy a new car.
- take out — I need to take out a loan.
Other Related Words
- profit — We made a great profit on the deal.
- property — Property almost always goes up in value if you hold onto it long enough.
- valuable — The painting was very valuable.
- value — The value of the dollar has decreased greatly over the past ten years.
- waste of money — Smoking cigarettes is bad for your health and a waste of money.
- wealth — I think people spend too much time focusing on wealth.
- worthless — Unfortunately, that painting is worthless.
Descriptive Adjectives
- affluent — Affluent people don’t always know how lucky they are.
- broke — As a student, I was always broke.
- generous — THe generous donor gave over $5,000.
- hard-up — I’m afraid Peter is hard-up. He hasn’t been able to find a job.
- mean — She’s very mean. She wouldn’t even buy a baby a present.
- poor — He may be poor, but he’s very friendly.
- prosperous — The prosperous man grew fat and lazy.
- rich — Everyone wants to be rich, but few really are.
- stingy — Don’t be so stingy with your children.
- wealthy — Frank is one of the wealthy people in this town.
- well off — Jennifer is very well off and doesn’t have to work for a living.
Learn words that go together with the word «money» to expand your vocabulary.
Below is a list of words related to another word. You can click words for definitions. Sorry if there’s a few unusual suggestions! The algorithm isn’t perfect, but it does a pretty good job for common-ish words. Here’s the list of words that are related to another word:
Popular Searches
Words Related to ~term~
As you’ve probably noticed, words related to «term» are listed above. Hopefully the generated list of term related words above suit your needs.
P.S. There are some problems that I’m aware of, but can’t currently fix (because they are out of the scope of this project). The main one is that individual words can have many different senses (meanings), so when you search for a word like mean, the engine doesn’t know which definition you’re referring to («bullies are mean» vs. «what do you mean?», etc.), so consider that your search query for words like term may be a bit ambiguous to the engine in that sense, and the related terms that are returned may reflect this. You might also be wondering: What type of word is ~term~?
Also check out ~term~ words on relatedwords.io for another source of associations.
Related Words
Related Words runs on several different algorithms which compete to get their results higher in the list. One such algorithm uses word embedding to convert words into many dimensional vectors which represent their meanings. The vectors of the words in your query are compared to a huge database of of pre-computed vectors to find similar words. Another algorithm crawls through Concept Net to find words which have some meaningful relationship with your query. These algorithms, and several more, are what allows Related Words to give you… related words — rather than just direct synonyms.
As well as finding words related to other words, you can enter phrases and it should give you related words and phrases, so long as the phrase/sentence you entered isn’t too long. You will probably get some weird results every now and then — that’s just the nature of the engine in its current state.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used to bring you this list of term themed words: @Planeshifter, @HubSpot, Concept Net, WordNet, and @mongodb.
There is still lots of work to be done to get this to give consistently good results, but I think it’s at the stage where it could be useful to people, which is why I released it.
Please note that Related Words uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies. To learn more, see the privacy policy.
Recent Queries
Today, you’re going to increase your money vocabulary with 42 words and phrases about money. Also check out Maths Vocabulary in English: Do You Know the Basics?
Like it or not, money is a big part of most of our lives.
So it’s important to be able to talk about it, right?
Here are 42 usfeul words and phrases to help you talk about money in English.
Words to describe physical money
Note
This is British English, and it basically means “a piece of paper money.” It’s short for “bank note.”
“I found a ten-pound note in the street the other day.”
“I tried to buy a sandwich with a fifty-pound note, but the shopkeeper wouldn’t accept it.”
Bill
“Bill” is the American word for “note.”
So we can talk about ten-pound notes, but we usually say ten-dollar bill.
My main question is “Who’s Bill?”
Coins
The money that isn’t notes — those shiny metal things? Those are coins.
Here’s something I’ve noticed about travelling:
In some countries, you end up with loads and loads of coins in your pocket. They just have so many of them.
The UK is one of those countries.
Shrapnel
This word actually means the small pieces of metal that explode out of a bomb or a grenade.
But when we’re talking about money, it’s a very informal way to describe coins.
But there’s a difference in how we use “shrapnel.”
The word “coin” is countable:
“How many coins have you got in your pocket?”
But the word “shrapnel” is uncountable:
“How much shrapnel have you got on you? I need to get a ticket, and the machine doesn’t accept notes.”
Change
When we pay for something, we do it one of two ways.
We can give the exact change: if the toothbrush you’re buying costs £1, and you give the shopkeeper £1, you’ve given the exact change.
But if you don’t have any shrapnel on you, you might want to pay with a five-pound note.
Then the shopkeeper gives you £4 in change.
Or perhaps you only have a fifty-pound note. So you try to pay for the toothbrush with that.
The shopkeeper just shakes his head and says, “Sorry, mate. I can’t break a fifty.”
What does it mean?
If the shopkeeper can’t give you the correct change for the fifty pounds because he doesn’t have it, then he can’t break the fifty-pound note.
And you don’t get a toothbrush.
Coppers
Most countries have very, very low-value coins.
What colour are they in your country?
Probably, they’re this dark orange colour — or copper colour.
That’s why we call them coppers.
Words to describe amounts of money
Fiver
This is British English, and it means “five-pound note.”
Easy, right?
Tenner
OK, you’ve guessed this one, haven’t you?
Yep — it means “ten-pound note.”
This only works for five pounds and ten pounds. We can’t say, for example, a twentier. It just sounds weird.
A lot of people I know (including myself) use these words when we’re outside the UK to talk about ten lira or ten lev or ten euros or whatever the currency is where we are.
K
I wrote about this in my big post on how to say numbers in English.
If you add “K” to a number in English, it means “thousand.”
Here’s an example for you to see how it works (and also to see how ridiculously overpriced things are in the UK).
These are beach huts:
They’re cute things that you’ll often find on the beach in the UK.
The idea is that you buy one and then you have a little room to change your clothes in, drink tea in and even have a nap in when you’re at the beach.
This one in the photo is in Brighton, my hometown.
Want to buy one? Well — they’re pretty expensive.
These guys cost over 20K.
Ridiculous, isn’t it?
Grand
“Grand” is exactly the same as “K.”
It means “thousand.”
“I still can’t believe those beach huts are going for over 20 grand each.”
Cash
Cash is real money — not virtual money.
If you’ve got bank notes or coins, then you’ve got cash.
If you’re using your card (or cheques, like it’s the ‘80s), then you’re not using cash.
Also — Johnny Cash. Because there’s never a bad time for Johnny Cash.
Words to describe currencies and denominations
Pound
I’m sure you know this one. It’s the currency used in the UK.
But just one thing: you don’t need to say “sterling.” No one uses it!
In fact, I had no idea what it meant until I was an adult.
Quid
You’ll hear this one a lot in the UK.
This is British English, and it means “pound.”
But be careful!
The plural of “quid” is “quid” (not “quids”).
So your kettle might cost one quid or fifty quid.
Which is really expensive for a kettle. Even a nice electric one with flashy green lights and everything.
Don’t buy it!
Bucks
This is originally American English, and it means “dollars.”
When I visited Australia back in February, I was pleased to hear that they use “bucks” there, too. A lot.
It feels good to say, right?
“That’ll be seven bucks, please.”
p
This is short for “pence.”
There are 100 pence in a pound.
It’s also the same in the singular and plural — so something could be 1p or 50p.
But prices can get a little tricky to say when they get more complicated. Click here for more on how to say prices correctly — it’s harder than you think!
Ways to talk about using the ATM
ATM
OK. What’s this?
Yep — it’s an ATM.
Cash machine
OK. What about this?
Yep — it’s an ATM.
But we can also call it a cash machine.
Hole-in-the-wall
And this? What’s this?
Yep — it’s an ATM or a cash machine or, if you’re talking to someone from the UK, a hole-in-the-wall.
But what can you do with it?
Withdraw
OK. You’ve got no cash on you, and you need to buy that amazing teapot — and you need to buy it NOW!
So you go to the cash machine and withdraw the cash you need.
Take out
“Withdraw” is quite a formal word.
In most situations it’s nice to use this phrasal verb instead:
“Give me five minutes — I’ve just got to go to the ATM and take out a bit of cash.”
Deposit
So we can use the ATM to withdraw money, but we can also use it to do the opposite.
When you deposit money, you take the real money you have in your hand, let the machine eat it up and watch the money get added to your bank account.
Put into
So “withdraw” is quite formal and “take out” is quite informal.
Also “deposit” is quite formal and “put into” is quite informal.
“Someone’s put about four grand into my account! Where did it come from?”
Ways to describe the money you get
Payday
This is, surprisingly, the day you get paid.
Maybe it’s every Monday.
Or maybe it’s on the first of the month.
Or maybe it’s NEVER! (That job was awful.)
Salary
Usually when people talk about their salary, they’re describing how much they get paid every year or every month or, sometimes, every hour — but only two of these are technically correct.
A salary is how much you get paid every year.
However, you’ll often hear people talk about a “monthly salary.”
And that’s fine, as the monthly salary is calculated based on how much you make in a year.
Wage
So how do we describe the amount of money you get per hour?
That’s when “wage” comes in.
A wage is usually used to describe the money you get for one hour’s work.
Most countries have a minimum wage, which is the smallest amount of money a company can legally pay their workers.
Income
This is the money you get over a period of time.
So we can talk about a weekly income, a monthly income or a yearly income.
But we actually use this word in lots of others ways.
For example, a way to describe poor families or rich families is by using the term “low-income household” or “high-income household.”
This is often used by people who work in sales. Probably because when you’re trying to sell stuff to people, it’s good to avoid the words “rich” and “poor.”
We can also use the phrase “on a six-figure income” (an income with six numbers, e.g., $500,000).
It’s basically a way to say you’re rich:
“50 quid for a kettle? No problem — I’m on a six-figure income.”
Words to describe paying less
Discount
Here’s it is — your dream toaster:
It not only makes toast, but can filter coffee, travel through time and also make your enemies do embarrassing things in public.
But there’s a problem. A predictable one.
It’s really expensive — completely out of your price range.
Then, one day, the shop decides to sell it at a much cheaper price.
In fact, they cut the price by 80%.
That’s an 80% discount.
Now you can afford it!
Go get that toaster!
Sales
There are some times of the year when the shops go crazy with discounts.
In the USA, there’s an event called Black Friday. And it’s absolutely mental and ridiculous.
Just for one day, the shops discount everything — a lot.
As a result, people start queuing outside stores one, two, even three days before the special day.
When the doors open, everyone tries to kill each other (almost) to get to the cheap, heavily discounted, stuff:
via GIPHY
(Really — is stuff that important?)
Anyway, Black Friday is a massive sale — a period of time when a shop, or lots of shops, have big discounts.
You also have closing-down sales, when shops are about to close down, and they want to sell everything they have left.
When you buy something at a discount because it was part of a sale, you can say it was “on sale.”
“Do you really want to buy that?”
“Yeah — I think so. Anyway, it’s on sale.”
Mates’ rates
Sometimes shops give discounts.
But so do friends.
Let’s say you’ve got a good friend who does awesome tattoos.
Everyone wants her to do their tattoos.
In fact, she’s the most popular tattoo artist in town and, as a result, she charges a lot of money for them.
But not to you — you’re one of her best friends.
You can get a tattoo from her at a much cheaper price.
She’s your friend, so she charges you less.
She does that tattoo at mates’ rates — a discount for friends.
Ways of describing having no money
We’ve all been there, right?
That time when you just have no money to spend.
There are a few ways of describing this.
Skint
This is British English and basically means “without money — at least for now.”
It’s an adjective:
“Coming to the pub?”
“Not tonight, mate. I’m skint at the moment.”
Remember — it’s usually a temporary situation (like the day before payday). It’s different from being poor, which is something more permanent.
Broke
This is basically the same as “skint” but, it’s used outside the UK.
Flat broke
This means “very broke — really — I have literally NO money!”
Ways of describing how much stuff costs
Pricey
You know that feeling, right?
You’re in a new city, and you’re hungry.
You see a restaurant that looks quite good — not too posh, so probably not expensive.
You sit down and look at the menu … and the prices.
Now — if the menu was really expensive you’d just leave, right?
But what if it’s only a bit expensive?
Just a little bit more than it should cost?
Well — you’d probably stay, wouldn’t you?
Even though the menu’s a bit pricey — a little bit more expensive than it should be. But only a little bit.
A waste of money
OK. All of a sudden, you’ve got a grand.
Quick! What do you spend it on?
You could spend it on a trip around the world.
Or you could put it in the bank and save it.
Or you could renovate your kitchen — it really needs it.
All good ideas, right?
Or you could buy that giant dog statue you saw yesterday.
Not such a good idea, right?
What? You went for the dog statue? Seriously?
You’ve spent the money on something stupid! It’s a complete waste of money!
A bargain
When you buy something, and you get a great deal. It’s much cheaper than expected.
Perhaps it’s a skiing holiday in France for less than 100 bucks.
Or a beautiful teapot for just a quid.
Whatever it is, enjoy it — it’s a bargain!
Ways of describing spending money
Splash out
Awesome! You’ve received a bonus 200 quid in your salary this month.
What are you going to do with the extra cash?
Well — you could save it.
Or you could splash out on that dream toaster you’ve always wanted.
“Splash out” basically means “spend freely.”
It’s usually for a special treat — something you wouldn’t usually buy because it’s a little pricey. But just this once. This is a special occasion! Why not?
Blow it all
You decide to sell your car because you realise that bikes are way better. (They are!)
So you sell it, and you get a good deal for it.
One day you have loads of money in your pocket.
So you take all your friends out for a big meal.
The next day you wake up and check how much is left.
Nothing! Not a penny!
You’ve blown it all!
When you blow your money on something, it means you spend a lot of money on something useless.
“When he was fired, the company gave him 20 grand. Guess what? He blew it all on a golden toaster. Unbelievable!”
Break the bank
This means “spend more than you should” or “spend more than you can afford.”
However, it’s often used in the negative to give a good reason for buying something:
“Well — it looks fun … and the tickets are only five quid.”
“Yeah! Let’s do it! It’s not exactly going to break the bank!”
Ways of describing not spending money
Stingy
Here’s Tony. You may remember him from my post on negative personality adjectives:
He hates sharing his stuff.
And he most certainly will NOT be buying you a drink anytime soon.
He’s stingy!
It’s basically the opposite of “generous.”
Tight-fisted
This is basically the same as “stingy.”
We can also shorten it and just say “tight.”
“Hey, Tony! Can you lend me a couple of quid? I haven’t got enough on me for the ticket.”
“No. Buy your own ticket!”
“Come on! Don’t be so tight!”
On a tight budget
Money’s a funny thing, isn’t it?
Sometimes there are good times, and we feel like we can afford pretty much anything.
And sometimes there are … not-so-good times.
Times when we need to be careful about what we spend.
Times when even spending a quid or two on a cup of tea can break the bank.
That’s when we’re on a tight budget.
On a shoestring budget
This is similar to “on a tight budget,” but we use it when we’re describing how much money there is for a specific thing.
I have a friend who decided to cycle from Istanbul to Manchester on a shoestring budget.
Some of the best films were made on a shoestring budget.
Get the idea?
OK, so that was a lot of money vocabulary — 42 words and phrases to talk about money in English.
But what did I miss?
What other words and phrases about money can you think of?
Let me know in the comments!
Did you like this post? Then be awesome and share by clicking the blue button below.