95 slang words for money and their meanings

English has dozens of slang words for money, from Benjamins and bread to quid and wonga. Here are 95 of them, with what each one means and, where it is known, where it comes from.

Money is needed to buy just about everything, and perhaps that is why people have found so many ways to talk about it. Few words have as many slang terms as money, which shows that talking about cash does not have to be boring.

A few things to keep in mind as you read the list. Many of these words are mostly used in the plural (bucks, clams, smackers). Most of them come from the United States and refer to US dollars, though some, such as quid, monkey, and lolly, are British. And like all slang, they belong in conversation and informal writing: never use them in formal writing, such as a report or a job application.

The list of slang words for money

1. Benjamins: from Benjamin Franklin, whose face is on the 100-dollar bill.
2. Bacon: not about food. To "bring home the bacon" means to earn the money a household lives on.
3. Bank: money in general, not the institution.
4. Bands: a large roll of cash is often held together with a rubber band, which is where the word comes from.
5. Big ones: thousands of dollars, as in "fifty big ones".
6. Bankrolls: rolls of paper money.
7. Bills: banknotes. On its own, a bill can also mean a hundred dollars.
8. Big bucks: a lot of money, especially as pay for a job.
9. Biscuits: money in general. The origin is unknown.
10. Bisquick: a play on biscuits, for money that comes in quickly.
11. Bones: dollars, nothing to do with skeletons. The origin is unknown.
12. Bread: bread is a staple of life, and so is cash.
13. Bookoo bucks: the same as big bucks. Bookoo comes from the French beaucoup, "a lot".
14. Broccoli: the vegetable is green, just like US paper money.
15. Buckaroos: a play on bucks, money in general.
16. Cabbage: cash is green, and so is cabbage.
17. Cheddar: the origin is unclear. A popular theory links it to the "government cheese" that US welfare programs once handed out.
18. Chedda: another way of saying cheddar.
19. Cake: like bread and dough, cake means money.
20. Cash: the everyday word for money in notes and coins.
21. Cash money: the same, with extra emphasis.
22. Chits: from the signed notes for money owed on drinks, food, or anything else.
23. Chips: a big pile of poker chips means you have money.
24. CREAM: an acronym for "Cash Rules Everything Around Me", made famous by a Wu-Tang Clan song.
25. Clams: if you have clams, you have money.
26. Coin: money in general, whether in coins or notes.
27. Chump change: money, but only a small amount of it.
28. Cs or C-notes: 100-dollar bills. C is the Roman numeral for one hundred.
29. Dead presidents: US banknotes, after the portraits on them. Most show presidents, though Alexander Hamilton (10 dollars) and Benjamin Franklin (100 dollars) never were.
30. Dime: ten dollars, after the ten-cent coin.
31. Dinero: Spanish for money. The word goes back to the denarius, a Roman coin.
32. Doubloons: Spanish gold coins, familiar from pirate stories.
33. Dough: if you have the dough, you have some cash.
34. Doubles: 20-dollar bills.
35. Dubs: the same as doubles.
36. Ducats: from the ducat, a gold coin once used across Europe.
37. Fins: five-dollar bills, not the fish. Fin comes from finf, Yiddish for five.
38. Five-spots: five-dollar bills.
39. Fivers: the same; in Britain, five-pound notes.
40. Fetti: money in general. It may come from feria, Mexican Spanish slang for money.
41. Franklins: Benjamin Franklin is very popular in slang. This one also means 100-dollar bills.
42. Frog: of unclear origin. In betting slang, a 50-dollar bet on a horse.
43. Frogskins: paper money in general.
44. Folding stuff: paper money, because you can fold it.
45. Greenbacks: from the green ink on the back of US banknotes.
46. Grand: a thousand dollars. The term dates from the early 20th century.
47. G's: thousands of dollars, from the G in grand.
48. Gold: for thousands of years, gold has meant wealth.
49. Green: from the color of US paper money.
50. Guineas: from the guinea, a gold coin minted in England from 1663 until the early 19th century.
51. Guac: short for guacamole, which is green.
52. Gwop: money in general.
53. Half a yard: a 50-dollar bill, since a yard is a hundred dollars.
54. Hundies: 100-dollar bills.
55. Jacksons: 20-dollar bills, which show President Andrew Jackson.
56. Knots: a knot is a roll of banknotes.
57. Large: a thousand dollars, as in "ten large".
58. Lettuce: another green vegetable for green paper money.
59. Long green: paper money, after its color and shape.
60. Lucre: from the biblical phrase "filthy lucre", money gained dishonestly.
61. Loot: originally the spoils of war, or other money taken unlawfully.
62. Lolly: British slang for money in general. The origin is unknown.
63. Lucci: possibly another form of lucre, though the origin is unknown.
64. Megabucks: the same as big bucks.
65. Monkey: British slang for 500 pounds. A popular story traces it to soldiers coming back from India with a 500-rupee note that showed a monkey, but the story is not proven.
66. Moola: also spelled moolah, money in general. The origin is unknown.
67. Notes: like C-notes, from banknotes.
68. Nuggets: from gold nuggets.
69. Nickel: five dollars, after the five-cent coin.
70. Ones: one-dollar bills, just as fives and tens are five- and ten-dollar bills.
71. OPM: an acronym for "other people's money".
72. Paper: paper money of any kind.
73. Pesos: money in general. The peso (Spanish for "weight") is the currency of Mexico and several other Latin American countries.
74. Payola: secret payments for a favor, originally bribes paid to radio DJs to play certain records.
75. Plunder: just like the ordinary word, stolen money.
76. Quid: British slang for one pound, or 100 pence.
77. Quarter: 25 dollars, after the 25-cent coin.
78. Rack: a thousand dollars, usually as a stack of bills.
79. Rock: a million dollars.
80. Roll: short for bankroll.
81. Scratch: money in general. The origin is unknown.
82. Scrilla: also spelled skrilla, possibly from scroll, a roll of paper, and paper meaning money.
83. Sawbucks: ten-dollar bills. The Roman numeral X looks like the crossed legs of a sawbuck, a frame for sawing wood.
84. Shekels: from the shekel, a unit of weight and money in the Bible and the currency of Israel today.
85. Smackers: dollars. The origin is unknown.
86. Singles: one-dollar bills.
87. Simoleons: dollars. The word probably blends simon, old slang for a dollar, with napoleon, a French gold coin.
88. Spondulix: money in general, of unclear origin. Some link it to the Greek spondylos, a shell that was once used as money.
89. Stacks: stacks of bills, usually thousands of dollars.
90. Ten-spots: ten-dollar bills.
91. Tenners: the same; in Britain, ten-pound notes.
92. Two bits: 25 cents. The Spanish dollar, once common in America, was worth eight reales, or "bits", so two bits made a quarter.
93. Wad: a bundle of paper money.
94. Wonga: British slang for money, from a Romany word.
95. Yard: a hundred dollars.

Know your slang

Slang changes fast, and the meaning of a word can vary from one place, or one group of speakers, to the next. If you are not sure what a word means, or whether your reader will understand it, choose plain money or cash. To learn more about informal language, read what colloquialisms are, and if you would like to earn some of that bread with your writing, read how to make money writing.