Word that means to get money

“It’s all about the Benjamins,” sang Puff Daddy. But despite what you may have mistakenly thought, the legendary American rapper wasn’t singing about a good friend named Ben. Nope. Sean John Combs, a.k.a P. Diddy, was kindly explaining a simple truth about our capitalist society: It’s all about the money.

Actually, money is so important that people came up with dozens of ways to talk about it throughout the ages. Emerging in the US, the UK or elsewhere, slang words for money became a huge part of the language we use. But how well do you know them?

Well, luckily for you, we’ve listed the most common nicknames for money to add a playful element to your conversation, your eCommerce website, your news article, the dialogues of your novels—and of course, your next rap hit. Here are 100 slang words and terms for money:

01. Bacon

Perhaps because it is so beloved, money is often referred to as this breakfast treat. Most commonly used as part of the phrase “bring[ing] home the bacon”.

02. Bank

The connection between bank and money needs no explanation. Use it to gossip about your friend’s salary increase: “Since he started working at the bank, Benjamin’s been making bank.”

03. Bankroll

Meant literally to supply money, it can also be used to refer to money itself, like: “I need some bankroll to get my bread business off the ground.”

04. Bean

An archaic term for a dollar; it’s not commonly used any more.

05. Benjamins

This one we covered above. The name references the appearance of founding father Benjamin Franklin on the one-hundred-dollar bill.

06. Benji

A nickname for our dear friend whose mug appears on the $100 bill.

07. Big ones

Like “grand” and “large”, which you’ll see below, each “big one” means $1,000. So if you’re buying a car for 10 big ones, you’re paying $10,000.

08. Bills

Another term with an obvious connection to money, this is most commonly used to refer to one-hundred-dollar bills.

09. Bones

Can be used in exchange for “dollars”, as in: “These grills cost 100 bones.”

10. Boodle

A term for shady cash, like counterfeit, stolen or bribe money.

11. Brass (UK)

This is a Northern British slang term for money, believed to have originated from the region’s scrap dealers scrounging for materials that were valuable, like brass. It’s related to the phrase “Where there’s muck, there’s brass.”

12. Bread

A synonym for food in general, this has meant money since at least the 19th century. Like bacon, it’s something you “bring in”: “She’s selling bread online in order to bring in the bread.”

13. Bucks

Perhaps the most commonly used slang term for dollars, it is believed to originate from early American colonists who would often trade deerskins, or buckskins.

14. C note

C equals 100 in the Roman numeral system and stands for the latin word centum, which means “a hundred” (and which also originated the word cent). Thus, a C note is a $100 bill.

15. Cabbage

When all those green bills are packed together, don’t they resemble cabbage? Ludacris thinks so: “Hustle real hard, gotta stack that cabbage / I’m addicted to money.”

16. Cake

Even better than bread or dough is a food that has icing and is served at parties.

17. Cash (or cash money)

Perhaps an obvious one, but still useful.

18. Capital

Not necessarily a slang term when employed in a business context, but can also be used as slang to refer to any kind of money, not just capital. Does that make cents? (See what I did there?)

19. Celery

Like cabbage and lettuce, this green veggie also means money. If you don’t believe me, take it from Jeezy, who boasts about a “pocket full of celery” in his 2009 hit “Put On” featuring Kanye West.

20. Cha-ching

It’s the best sound in the world to some—the cash register completing a sale. It’s also been used as a replacement term for money.

21. Chalupa

This mostly means a deliciously spicy Mexican taco, but is also slang for money.

22. Cheddar

If someone has the cheddar, it means they must be making bank.

23. Cheese

A nickname for money because Americans used to receive cheese as a welfare benefit.

24. Chips

A reference to poker chips, it now just means money.

25. Chump change

This refers to a small amount of money, like the amount of cash a chump would have.

26. Clams

Means “dollars”, as in: “Karen raised my rent by 100 clams.”

27. Cream

This is an acronym of “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” and was popularized by the Wu-Tang Clan in the 90s: “Cash rules everything around me / C.R.E.A.M. / Get the money / Dollar, dollar bill y’all.” The song encouraged listeners to not make the mistake of chasing money by selling drugs.

28. Coin

Looking to borrow money from a friend? Ask her: “Can I borrow some coin?”

29. Dead presidents

American currency acts as a who’s who of dead presidents. (Plus Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, who were never presidents but appear on the $10 and $100 bills, respectively.) Use this term to let people know you’re no sell out, like Eminem.

30. Dime

In the US, a dime is the coin worth ten cents, but the term can be used to mean money or an expense in general. For example, if your employee is sitting on social media instead of working, you can dramatically exclaim: “Not on my dime!”

31. Dinero

Because who doesn’t love the sound of Spanish? Dinero is the Spanish word for “money” and was first popularized in the Old West as early as the mid-19th century.

32. Dollar dollar bill y’all

Okay, this one is mostly an excuse to link to this rap classic from 2009. You’re welcome.

33. Dosh (UK)

A British slang term for money.

34. Dough

Another very commonly used term for money, it’s been around for a while. It likely became common as a branch off from “bread”, but the Oxford Dictionary found the term used as early as 1851, in a Yale publication: “He thinks he will pick his way out of the Society’s embarrassments, provided he can get sufficient dough.”

35. Dubs (or doubles or double sawbuck)

This term means a twenty-dollar bill, so two dubs refers to 40 bucks.

36. Ducats

A gold or silver coin that was used in Europe, mostly in Venice, starting from the Middle Ages.

37. Ducketts

The very American pronunciation of the previous word is used to refer to poker chips—but also money.

38. Fetti

A gross mispronunciation of the Spanish word feria, which in Mexico is used to mean coins. But maybe the term is also the result of the confetti-like image of money pouring from the sky when someone “makes it rain”.

39. Figgas

A hip-hop term to describe the number of figures in an amount of money.

40. Fins

A slang term for five-dollar bills. The source is likely from the German/Yiddish word for five: German—Funf, Yiddish—Finnif.

41. Five spot

A five-dollar bill.

42. Fiver

Another term for the five-dollar bill, as in: “I make about a fiver on each t-shirt I sell.”

43. Folding stuff

This refers to the stuff that folds, i.e. paper money. “I can’t believe you spent so much folding stuff on that lemon of a car.”

44. Franklins

And once again, we are back to our friend Benjamin, who appears on that much-beloved one-hundred-dollar bill.

45. Frogskin

An archaic term for dollar bills, perhaps related to the term “greenback”.

46. Funds

“I’d plan a trip to Hawaii, but I got no funds.”

47. G

Short for “grand”, this refers to $1,000 dollars. Having five G in the bank shouldn’t cause you to worry about cellphone towers, but should result in a celebration for having “dollar dollar bill y’all”. (Not to confuse with G, which is also short for “gangster”, as in “Benjamin Franklin was a real G”.)

48. Gelt

A Yiddish term meaning “gold” and is most commonly used to refer to the money (chocolate or real) given by parents on the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

49. Gold

Does this need any explanation?

50. Gouda

Rapper E-40 coined this term for money in his hit “Gouda”. The slang king then goes on to explain the meaning by using many of the other terms listed here: “The definition of Gouda, what’s the definition? / Chalupa, scrilla, scratch, paper, yaper, capital…”

51. Grand

Refers to $1,000 since the mob coined the term (no pun intended) in the early 1900s. Back then $1,000 was a “grand” amount of money, and they wanted to be discreet.

52. Grant

A $50 bill, in reference to President Ulysses S. Grant, whose face is featured. (Speaking of Uly, did you know that the S doesn’t stand for anything?)

53. Grease

If you grease someone’s palm or someone’s pockets, it means you gave them some money, usually as a bribe.

54. Green

A reference to the color of American money. Can be used like in: “I’m all out of green, so I’ll pay you back next week.”

55. Greenbacks

A form of American currency printed in the Civil War. The front of the bill was printed in black while the back was printed in green.

56. Guap

Same pronunciation as gwop, this refers to a large amount of money.

57. Gwala

Another related term to guap and gwop that means a stack of cash, as in: “Grease his pockets with a little gwala.”

58. Gwop

This slang term for money is actually an acronym of “George Washington On Paper”—referring to the first US president, who appears on the one-dollar bill.

59. Hamilton

Even though he wasn’t a president, the Founding Father without a father got a lot farther by being on the ten-dollar bill.

60. Jackson

Not as expensive as a Franklin or a Benjamin, this refers to President Andrew Jackson who appears on the twenty-dollar bill.

61. K

Refers to the prefix kilo, i.e. one thousand. So 500K means $500,000.

62. Large

Similar to grand, this term also refers to $1,000.

63. Lettuce

Like cabbage and celery, this is an old slang term that means “money” or “currency”.

64. Long green

Another slang term for “cash” that references the color and shape of that dollar dollar bill y’all.

65. Loot

Referring to money, you can tell your customer to “Hand over the loot”—but you probably shouldn’t.

66. Lucci

An Italian sounding word that rappers like to use to talk about money, but it’s not Italian for anything so it’s unclear why. (Some people believe it’s slang for lucre.)

67. Lucre

Often used in the phrase filthy lucre to refer to a “shameful gain”, according to Merriam-Webster. While the term has taken on a slang-like connotation, it’s a legit word and is related to lucrative.

68. M

This one can actually be confusing. While M is the Roman numeral for a thousand, when used with money, it usually means a million. So $3M equals $3,000,000.

69. MM (or MN)

Many banks will use this to refer to millions of dollars.

70. Mil

This is another popular abbreviation of million, when talking dollars.

71. Moola (or moolah)

This is another age-old slang term for money, but nobody seems to really know where it originated. Merriam-Webster says the word was first used to mean money in 1936.

72. Nickel

The metal that makes up a crucial element of the Earth’s core is also used to make five-cent coins. Used as slang, this term can mean $5 or $500 worth of something—particularly when talking about gambling or drugs.

73. Nuggets

A term for money that probably refers to gold nuggets, but may as well refer to the many other valuable things that come in the form of nuggets: chicken, wisdom, truth, Denver’s basketball team, etc.

74. Ones

Means one-dollar bills. If you’re all out of ones, you’ll need to ask for change to buy a can of coke from the machine.

75. Paper

The material used to print that dollar dollar bill y’all. Chasin’ that paper is just a part of “living your life”, according to this 2008 classic by Rihanna and T.I.

76. Pesos

The official currency of Mexico can be used in American slang to refer to dollars as well.

78. Quid (UK)

The origin of this slang term for the British pound (or sterling) is uncertain, but it’s been around since the late 1600s, according to Merriam-Webster.

79. Rack

$1,000 or more in cash.

80. Resources

Use it to sound fancy but also street: “Ain’t got the resources to pay for that activity at the moment.”

81. Riches

An especially useful word to refer to money when you’re trying to sound like you have lots of it. Technically speaking, a gorgeous example of a synecdoche.

82. Salad

If lettuce, cabbage, celery and beans all mean money, you might as well put it all together and dress it.

83. Sawbucks

A ten-dollar bill. The source of this term comes from the sawhorse that resembles the Roman numeral X (for “10”) that was found on the back of the 10-dollar bill. The word then evolved to sawbuck because “buck” means “dollar”.

84. Scratch

This word has been used to mean money since the beginning of the 20th century, but we don’t seem to know why. Some believe it’s a reference to the phrase “starting from scratch” to imply that everything starts with money.

84. Shekels

A biblical currency that is also used presently in Israel. The word shekel is rooted in the Hebrew term for “weight”.

85. Simoleon

Slang for “dollar” associated with old-timey American gangsters.

86. Skrilla (or scrilla or scrill)

The origin of this term to mean money or cash is also unknown, but it was used in rap music starting in the 1990s.

87. Smackers

An East Coast way of saying dollars, especially if you’re a 60+ year-old man betting on a football game: “I’ll bet ya 100 smackers that the Jets find a way to lose this one.” It usually refers to enough cash to smack someone in the face with.

88. Spondulix

A 19th-century term for money, you can also spell it spondulicks, spondoolicks, spondulacks, spondulics, and spondoolics. Be really hip and refer to it as spondoolies.

89. Stacks

Similar to racks, this term also means $1,000. “I had to get my car fixed and it cost me 3 stacks.”

90. Stash

Refers mostly to money you have hidden away.

91. Tamales

Nobody really uses this term anymore, but it was a common term to mean dollars.

92. Ten spot

A ten-dollar bill.

93. Tender

From the longer (and more boring sounding) term legal tender.

94. Tenners

Ten-dollar bills, as in: “Can I get two tenners for one of these dubs?”

95. Treasure

This is an especially useful term for money if you’re a pirate.

96. Wad

A bunch of cash, enough that you can roll it up into a wad.

97. Wampum

Polished shells worn by Native Americans and sometimes used as a form of currency. The term was popular as slang for money for a while, but now is mostly used to refer to marijuana.

98. Wonga (UK)

A Romani word that means “coal”, which was another term used by Brits to refer to money.

99. Yaper

Usually refers to drug money.

100. Yard

Usually refers to $100, but apparently can also be used to mean $1 billion—just in case that’s an amount of money you and your friends chat about.

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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:

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.

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.

1. frugal
2. penny-wise
3. thrifty
4. economical
5. economizing
6. provident
7. scrimping
8. 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.

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?

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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!

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The Phrasal Verb The Meaning An example
( Simple Past Tense) S=Separable
I=Inseparable To buy sb off To pay someone so that they do not cause you any trouble. The company thought they had bought him off but he took them to court and won. S To buy sb out To buy a part of a company or building from someone else so that you own all of it. They bought their competitor’s share in the target company. S To buy sth up To buy large amounts of something, or all that is available. He bought up all the land in the surrounding area. S To cash in on sth To get money or another advantage from an event or situation, often in an unfair way. A lot of people are trying to cash in on the situation. I To cash up To count all the money taken by a shop or business at the end of each day. She cashed up when the shop closed. S To pay sth off To pay back money that you owe. We paid off our mortgage after 25 years. S To pay (sth) out To spend money on something, or to pay money to someone. I paid out £500 to get the computer fixed. S To pay up To give someone the money that you owe them, especially when you do not want to. If he doesn’t pay up, I’ll throw him out. It’s as simple as that. S To save (sth) on sth To avoid using something [e.g. electricity, food] so that you do not have to pay for it He used to go to bed very early to save on his electricity bills. S