Slang terms for money often derive from the appearance and features of banknotes or coins, their values, historical associations or the units of currency concerned. Within a single language community some of the slang terms vary across social, ethnic, economic, and geographic strata, but others have become the dominant way of referring to the currency and are regarded as mainstream, acceptable language e.g. "buck" for a dollar or similar currency in various nations including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States.
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General terms specific to certain social, ethnic, economic and geographic strata include; "bread" (an allusion to the importance of money), "buck", "clam", "milk", "dosh", "dough", "shillings", "frogskins", "duckets", "greenbacks", "scrilla", "loot", "bones", "coin", "folding stuff", "honk", "lolly", "lucre"/"filthy lucre", "moola/moolah", "mopuses", "paper", "shrapnel" (used to describe having large amounts of coins that are all low value), "readies", "spondulicks/spondoolic(k)s/spondulix", "Spondoolies" and "wonga". "Fiver" may be used for an Australian 5 dollar note, A British five-pound note, a Canadian five-dollar bill, a five-Euro banknote or a United States five-dollar bill.
Most Australian bank notes have colloquially assigned nicknames due to their denomination or colour. A five-dollar note is known as a 'fiver' or 'queenie'; a ten-dollar not as a 'tenner' (pron. 'tenor') or a 'blue-tongue' because the note is predominantly blue; a twenty-dollar note is known as a 'lobster' because the note is predominantly red; a fifty-dollar note is known as a 'pineapple' because the note is predominantly yellow; and a one-hundred-dollar note is known as a "hundi-stick" or "watermelon".
US banknote nicknames reflect their values (such as five, twenty, etc.), the subjects depicted on them and their color. The $5 bill has been referred to as a "fin" or a "fiver" or a "five-spot;" the $10 bill as a "sawbuck," a "ten-spot," or a "Hamilton"; the $20 bill as a "double sawbuck," or a "Jackson"; the $1 bill is sometimes called a "single," a "buck," a "clam," or a "simoleon"; the $2 bill a "deuce," "Jefferson," or a "T.J." and the $100 bill is nicknamed a "Benjamin," "Benji," or "Franklin" (after Benjamin Franklin, who is pictured on the note), C-note (C being the Roman numeral for 100), Century Note, or "bill" ("two bills" being $200, etc.). The dollar has also been referred to as a "bone" or "bones" (i.e. twenty bones is equal to $20) or a "bean". Occasionally these will be referred to as "dead presidents," although neither Hamilton ($10) nor Franklin ($100) was President. $1000 notes are occasionally referred to as 'large' in banking ("twenty large" being $20,000, etc.) or as "big ones" in slang (as in "twenty big ones"). The newer designs are sometimes referred to as "Bigface" bills, or "Monopoly Money". The new $5 bill has been called a "Faux Euro" due to the similarity between its color scheme and the Euro. Greenback originally applied specifically to the 19th century Demand Note dollars created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the costs of the American Civil War for the North. The original note was printed in black and green on the back side. It is still used to refer to the U.S. dollar (but not to the dollars of other countries). Additionally, a "G" or "grand" refers to $1,000.
For coins a "nickel" is a coin worth one twentieth of a U.S. Dollar. The coins themselves bear the legend, "FIVE CENTS".
Although these two names for coins are not slang in the U.S., as "ONE DIME" and "QUARTER DOLLAR" are the actual names embossed on U.S. coins themselves, a dime is a coin worth one tenth of a U.S. Dollar or Canadian Dollar and a "quarter" is a coin worth one quarter of a U.S. Dollar or Canadian Dollar. Canada uses the legends 10¢ and 25¢ respectively on their coinage, but Canadians follow the U.S. terms for those two coins.
Other more general terms for money, not specifically linked to actual banknotes:
- Monetary units larger than 1 dollar are often referred to by the names of their coin counterparts: $5 is a "nickel", $10 is a "dime", and $25 is a "quarter".
- One hundred dollars is known in some circles as a "yard".
- A million dollars is sometimes called a "rock", popularized by several TV shows and movies, most recently The Sopranos. (ex., "This wedding is costing me half a rock.")
In Malaysia, there is a difference between states in calling names for money. Normally, "cents" are called "sen" in Malaysia, but, in the northern region (Penang, Kedah, Perlis), "sen" is called as "kupang". And, it's called without mentioning the "tens". For example, 50 sen/cents is called 5 kupang and not 50 kupang.
In the East Coast Region ( Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang), they still used sen. But only for the value of 50 cents, they replace it with the word se-amah ( where "se" refer to one in Malay), if it's RM 1 (100 cents), it will be called dua-amah ( "Dua" is two in Malay), and so on.
And, exclusively in Kelantan, they don't refer the value of money in "ringgit", for example, in other states, RM 10 is called 10 ringgit, RM 25 is called 25 ringgit and so on. But, in Kelantan, they replaced the word "ringgit" with "riyal", for example, RM 10 is usually called 10 ringgit, but in Kelantan, it's called 10 riyal. This might be because Kelantan is an "Islamic state" on which the administration of the state is mostly by ulama.
Ready money (i.e. available cash) has for centuries been referred to in the United Kingdom as "rhino"; Brewer equates this term with "paying through the nose", rhino- being a Greek prefix referring to the nose, that is, paying in cash.[1] The related term "cash on the nail" is said to refer to 17th century trading stands in Bristol and elsewhere, over which deals were done and cash changed hands.[2]
Quid (singular and plural) is used for pound sterling or £, in British slang. It is thought to derive from the Latin phrase "quid pro quo".[3] A pound (£1) may also be referred to as a "nicker" or "nugget" (rarer).
Some other pre-decimalisation United Kingdom coins or denominations became commonly known by colloquial and slang terms, perhaps the most well known being "bob" for a shilling, and "quid" for a pound. A farthing was a "mag", a silver threepence was a "joey" and the later nickel-brass threepence was called a "threepenny bit" (pronounced /ˈθrʌpni/, /ˈθrʊpni/ or /ˈθrɛpni/ bit); a sixpence was a "tanner", the two-shilling coin or florin was a "two-bob bit", the two shillings and sixpence coin or half-crown was a "half dollar" and the crown was a "dollar". Slang terms are not used for the decimal coins that replaced them but in some parts of the country, "bob" continues to represent one-twentieth of a pound, that is five new pence, and two bob is 10p. For all denominations "p" is used for pence.
In the United Kingdom the term "shrapnel" may be used for an inconvenient pocketful of loose change because of the association with a shrapnel shell and "wad" or "wedge" for a bundle of banknotes, with "tightwad" a derogatory term for someone who is reluctant to spend money. Quantities of UK 1p and 2p coins may be referred to as "Copper", 5p, 10p, 20p, and 50p coins as "Silver" and £1 and £2 coins as "Bronze" due to their colour and apparent base metal type. "Brass" is northern English slang for any amount of money.
Prior to their abandonment, the one pound note was occasionally referred to as a "Sheet" and thus the ten shilling note as a "Half Sheet". More commonly the ten shilling note was a "ten bob note".
In pub culture five and ten pounds notes are sometimes called "Blue beer tokens" and "Brown beer tokens".
Rhyming Slang for particular quantities of money in the United Kingdom include; "Lady Godiva" for a fiver (£5), or a "Jacks" - Jacks Alive (extremely rare). A "Cockle" is £10 - Cock and Hen - ten. A "Tenner" is £10. A "score" is £20. A "pony" equals £25. A "ton" or "century" is £100. A "monkey" is £500. A "grand" commonly means £1,000 and use of this term is now very widespread. A "oner" (one-er) has referred to various amounts from one shilling to a pound to now meaning £100 or £1,000 and a "big one" denoting £1,000.
In India slangs for coins are more common than the currency notes. for 5 paisa (100 paisa is equal to 1 indian rupee) it is 'panji'. A 10 paisa coin is called 'dassi' and for 20 paisa it is 'bissi'. A 25 paisa coin is called 'chavanni' (equal to 4 annas) and 50 paisa is 'athanni' (8 annas). However in recent years due to inflation the use of these small value coins have declined, and so is the use of these slang terms. The more prevalent terms now (particularly in Mumbai and in Bollywood movies) are 'peti' for a Lakh (Rs. 100,000) and 'khokha' for a Crore (Rs. 10,000,000.) Petti also means suitcase, which is the volume needed to carry a Lakh of currency notes. Due to the real estate boom in recent times, businessmen also use the terms '2C' or '3C' referring to two crores and three crores respectively.
In the first ten years of the existence of the euro a number of slang terms have emerged, though the difference in languages mean these terms are not common across the whole of the eurozone. Some terms are inherited from the legacy currencies, such as quid from the Irish pound and various translations of fiver or tenner being used for notes. The German Teuro is a play on the word teuer, meaning 'expensive'. The Deutsche Mark by comparison was worth half as much as the euro (a ratio of approximately 2:1) and some grocers and restaurants have been accused of taking advantage of the smaller numbers to increase their actual prices with the changeover. In Flanders the lower value copper coins are known as koper or rostjes. Ege in Finland and Leru in Spain are all other terms applied to the euro.