Are you bored of using the same old words? The English language has a great deal of variety, so there’s no reason to get tired of saying the same thing. In fact, once you add in the slang that comes with our language, you have almost infinite variety in your word choice.
If you are looking for a new way to talk money, here are dozens of words that are slang for money:
- Bread: “I’ve got to make some bread.”
- Dough: “I’m rolling in the dough.”
- Bacon: “Bring home the bacon.”
- Bucks: “Got a few bucks?”
- C-Notes ($100 bills): “Have you ever seen a C-note?”
- Fins ($5 bills): “Can you spot me a fin?”
- Fiver ($5 bill): “Can you spare a fiver?”
- Benjamins ($100 bills): “It’s all about the benjamins.”
- Jacksons ($20 bills): “How many jacksons is that?”
- Wampum: “I need a little more wampum.”
- Bills: “Do you have a few bills I can borrow?”
- Moolah: “I’ve got to find a way to make more moolah.”
- Clams: “You have a lot of clams.”
- Currency: “Just need a little more currency.”
- Lucre: “I’ve just been gambling and now I have a little more lucre.”
- Stash: “Check out that huge stash.”
- Bits (quarters): “That’ll cost two bits.”
- Doubloons: “I’ve got a sweet pile of doubloons.”
- Chump change: “That’s not very expensive at all. It’s just chump change.”
- Pin Money: “I’ve got a little bit of pin money to buy me something extra.”
- Shekels: “Lend me a few shekels, will ya?”
- Boffo: “That’s some serious boffo he’s got.”
- Treasure: “If only I could get my hands on a little of that treasure.”
- Coin: “How much coin you got on you?”
- Tender: “I’ve got a whole fistful of legal tender.”
- Pittance: “My job doesn’t pay well. All I get is a pittance.”
- Scratch: “Can you lend me a little scratch?”
- Bones: “I could use a few more bones in my pocket.”
- Gelt: “Look at all that gelt.”
- Paper: “Why don’t you share a little of that paper?”
- Greenbacks: “I don’t make enough greenbacks for that kind of lifestyle.”
- Big Ones: “Lend me a few big ones to get through the week.”
- Loot: “I could use some of that loot.”
- Frogskins: “Do you have anymore frogskins? We’re short on the check.”
- Bundle: “She made a bundle the other day.”
Some of the slang for money has roots in the way the money looks. Since bills in the United States are traditionally green in color, slang terms like greenback and frogskins aren’t very surprising. In some cases, the slang for money is actually borrowed from foreign languages. Sure, we mean dollars when we say shekels, even though though the shekel is the currency in Israel. “Gelt” means “money” in Yiddish.
It’s not new for English to appropriate other languages’ words, and they make great slang terms, as you can see. So, if you are getting bored with just referring to your money as money, think of another way to say it. You might get some funny looks, but it’s a fun way to talk about finances.
Tom Drake writes for Financial Highway and MapleMoney. Whenever he’s not working on his online endeavors, he’s either doing his “real job” as a financial analyst or spending time with his two boys.