
British slang money words and expressions and their origins
bob = shilling (old english currency); Still used e.g.''I spent a bob or two down the betting shop.''
brass = money.'where there's muck there's brass'. Brass is an association to the colour of gold coins, and the value of brass as a scrap metal.
bread = money. (From cockney rhyming slang, bread and honey = money. Bread also has associations with the expression 'earning a crust', or having enough money to pay for your daily bread.)
dollar = slang for money
dosh = slang for a reasonable amount of spending money, for instance enough for a 'night-out'.From the slang 'doss-house', meaning a very cheap hostel or room.
|
dough = money. From the cockney rhyming slang and metaphoric use of 'bread'.
fiver = five pounds (£5).
grand = a thousand pounds (£1,000 or $1,000)
greens = money, usually old-style green coloured pound notes. From cockney rhyming slang 'greengages' (= wages).
lolly = money
monkey = five hundred pounds (£500)
moola = money
motsa = money. Popular Australian slang for money, now being adopted elsewhere.

|