Money makes the world go round. We work to earn money. We love to have it, save it and spend it. And many of us want more money! We talk about money all the time – about how much something will cost, when we get paid or how much we need to save. But when we talk about money, most people use slang for money. Besides the official dollars and cents, there are many slang for money terms. Some terms are specific to certain social, ethnic, economic or geographic areas.
Here are 10 Slang for Money terms that are widely used:
Buck – How often have your heard someone use this slang for money? The conversation might start out with someone suggesting ordering pizza and one person says everyone should throw in a couple of bucks. Everyone knows you mean dollars but the slang for money term buck sounds more casual.
Bill – This slang for money term is similar to buck. It often refers to the actual number of paper dollars you have in your pocket. Three dollars would equal three bills. In some places, bill may also be used to refer to $100 dollars. For example, you could say a TV that cost $600 also cost six bills.
Greenback – This term refers to the dollar bill because it is green. Friends might use this slang for money term to tell you that the popcorn at the movie theater will cost eight greenbacks. The term greenback would be interchangeable with the term buck.
Cash – This is a pretty common slang for money term that usually refers to more than one dollar. People often say they don’t have any cash on them so they will have to go to the ATM or use a credit card. If a place of business does not accept credit or debit cards, you may see a sign indicating cash only.
Dough – Like the term cash, dough means more than one dollar. Someone might look at a person’s brand new car and comment that he must have a lot of dough to be driving that fancy car.
Clam – This is a slang for money term that dates back centuries when sea shells were used as currency. Today you might hear it on a re-run of a TV show where the character says something cost 400 clams.
Spondoolies – This is a plural slang for money term. If someone asked a friend if he will be joining others for drinks but he is unable to go because he doesn’t have any money, he might respond, ‘no I can’t go, no spondoolies.”
Loot – The term loot is slang for money in large quantities. Sometimes this refers to a bank heist or robbery where the thieves made off with lots of loot.
Moolah / Moola – This can be spelled with or without an H at the end. It means a lot of money in slang for money terms. You might hear someone say she cannot take a vacation because it would be too much moolah.
Cabbage – This term also refers to the green color of the dollar. Someone using this term might ask you how much cabbage you want for an item that you are selling and they are obviously talking about dollars.
While there are plenty of other terms people use as slang for money, these are ten widely used terms.
