# Money slang



## Tatzingo

Hi!

Each country obviously has it's own names for money and colloquial words for the same. I'm not referring to the word that denotes the currency, eg. Money can be "cash" or "dosh" nor the lack of it... "skint" "broke" etc. (perhaps in a separate thread!) What i am interested in is how each country refers to the denominations of its own currency, eg.

UK
£10 note - a "tenner"
£5 note = a "fiver"
2p, 1p coins = "coppers"

Spain (please correct me/add/confirm)
5 peseta - el duro
5 centimos - una perra chica
10 centimos - una perra gorda
25 centimos - El real
50 centimos - dos reales

I'm sure that the states has its own slang/colloq. such as.. nickel?
What about other countries? If you are from an EU with the Euro, are you aware of any such words that refer to either the Euro or the pre-Euro currency (lira, peseta, deutschmark etc...)?

And as a *bonus question*, does anyone know about nicknames/colloq/slang/non-official names given to "old currency" such as the shilling in the UK? (Before my time, i'm afraid)

Tatz.

Ps. (edit) Mods - I wasn't too sure whether to put this in Cultural discussions or here with glossaries but as it's essentially going to be a list, i thought it would find a home here...


----------



## belén

Hi,

Since the Multilingual glossaries should be used with our template, I have moved this thread to the "Other Languages" forum.


			
				Tatzingo said:
			
		

> And as a *bonus question*, does anyone know about nicknames/colloq/slang/non-official names given to "old currency" such as the shilling in the UK? (Before my time, i'm afraid)




Funny, because for Spain, you answered this question yourself, all these examples (except for the "duro") belong to the old times..




> Spain (please correct me/add/confirm)
> 5 peseta - el duro
> 5 centimos - una perra chica
> 10 centimos - una perra gorda
> 25 centimos - El real
> 50 centimos - dos reales



Then, with the peseta, besides the mentioned "duro", we had "talego" for 1000 pesetas and "kilo" for 1 million pesetas. Unfortunately, there isn't much creativity with the Euro, I still haven't heard any words related to the new currency in Spanish... We are still using "kilos" (thinking big quantities in Euros is still pretty hard for the vast majority of Spaniards)

Cheers,
Belén


----------



## Aur0n87

In Germany we use those abbreviations mostly:

a *5* Euro bill -> ein *Fünf*er
a *10* Euro bill -> ein *Zehn*er
a *20* Euro bill -> ein *Zwanzig*er

and so on (so just the number with an "er" added)

The coins don't actually have special names. We just say like "a two Euro coin", "Eine Zwei Euro-Münze" or "Ein Zwei Euro-Stück".


When we still had the DM (or DMark) there were some special names.
For example: 

10 Pfennig (0,10 DMark) -> ein Groschen

I don't remember any other names, though. :'-)


----------



## xymox

I don't know about other European countries, but in Spain, a 500€ bill is quite often referred to as a "Bin Laden" since we all know it exists, but we've never seen one.

Also, in Canada: 
25 cents = trente sous (French)
a dime = 10 cents (Eng)
a nickel = 5 cents (Eng)
a looney = 1 dollar (Eng)


----------



## xymox

jgagnon said:
			
		

> I don't know about other European countries, but in Spain, a 500€ bill is quite often referred to as a "Bin Laden" since we all know it exists, but we've never seen one.
> 
> Also, in Canada:
> 25 cents = trente sous (French)
> a dime = 10 cents (Eng)
> a nickel = 5 cents (Eng)
> a looney = 1 dollar (Eng)


 
I'd like to apologise on that one, I meant "_most of us_ have not seen the 500 euro bill"


----------



## MingRaymond

In Hong Kong, we say this:

Cantonese:

$10 note (the green one) = 青蟹 (ching1 hai5) (green crab)
$100 note (the red one) = 紅衫魚 (hong4 sam1 yu2) (red snapper)
$500 note (the brown one) = 大牛 (dai6 ngau4) (big ox)
$1000 note (the gold one) = 金牛 (kum1 ngau4) (gold ox)

Ming


----------



## Krümelmonster

Near Stuttgart we say most coins with the diminutive "(er)le":
5 Cent = Fünferle
10 Cent = Zehnerle
50 Cent = Fünfzgerle...
and notes with the abbreviated number and an "i"
20 Euro = Zwanni
50 Euro = Fuffi
100 Euro =Hunni...


----------



## linguist786

MingRaymond said:
			
		

> In Hong Kong, we say this:
> 
> Cantonese:
> 
> $10 note (the green one) = 青蟹 (ching1 hai5) (green crab)
> $100 note (the red one) = 紅衫魚 (hong4 sam1 yu2) (red snapper)
> $500 note (the brown one) = 大牛 (dai6 ngau4) (big ox)
> $1000 note (the gold one) = 金牛 (kum1 ngau4) (gold ox)
> 
> Ming


紅衫魚 - doesn't that also mean "fried fish"?


----------



## linguist786

In Gujarati (here in England) we say:

"Paach ni note" (five pound note)
"Das ni note" (ten pound note)
"Vees ni note" (Twenty pound note)

Literally, they all mean "note of XX" (e.g. "note of five")


----------



## Tatzingo

linguist786 said:
			
		

> 紅衫魚 - doesn't that also mean "fried fish"?



Hi,

紅 Means Red.
魚 Means fish.
衫魚 = This has been translated "Red Snapper" which i thought might be a type of fish(?)

Tatz.


----------



## Tatzingo

Hi!

Come on people! What about the words used in Japan, Korea, France, Austria, Norway... and all the others (too many to mention!) ?

Tatz.


----------



## Mutichou

In France, I have only heard "euro".
When we used francs, we said "balle" (1 franc), "brique", "patate", "sac" (I don't really know how much it is), but since we use euro, there aren't such expressions, as far as I know.


----------



## Tatzingo

Mutichou said:
			
		

> In France, I have only heard "euro".
> When we used francs, we said "balle" (1 franc), "brique", "patate", "sac" (I don't really know how much it is), but since we use euro, there aren't such expressions, as far as I know.


Hi,

Thanks for that Mutichou. I don't suppose there are other native French speakers out there who could enlighten us as to the value of Une balle, une patate etc?

Merci d'avance!

Tatz.


----------



## pjay

Well before the introduction of the Euro, at least in my part of the country (Germany) we would call a 5 deutschmarks coin a "Heiermann". Does anybody remember?

A 100 DM bill or likewise a 100 Euro bill is called a "Hunni" (short for Hundert Euro)
A 50 DM or 50 Euro bill is can be called colloquially a "Fuffi" (short for Fünfziger).


----------



## Tatzingo

pjay said:
			
		

> Well before the introduction of the Euro, at least in my part of the country (Germany) we would call a 5 deutschmarks coin a "Heiermann". Does anybody remember?
> 
> A 100 DM bill or likewise a 100 Euro bill is called a "Hunni" (short for Hundert Euro)
> A 50 DM or 50 Euro bill is can be called colloquially a "Fuffi" (short for Fünfziger).



Hi,

Which part of Germany are you from? Are you referrign to your City/region or the difference between West/East?

Thanks for the info.


Tatz.


----------



## Krümelmonster

I never heard of the word Heiermann... But another thing that came into my mind is that we sometimes speak of "Öre" instead of "Euro", just for fun...


----------



## pjay

Well, I think the term "Heiermann" is confined to the Rhineland part of Germany. It used to be quite common in Düsseldorf, which is where I'm originally from.


----------



## erick

Tatzingo said:
			
		

> Come on people! What about the words used in Japan, Korea, France, Austria, Norway... and all the others (too many to mention!) ?


I _wish_ there were a colorful name for Japanese bills or coins.  My friends and I used to jokingly call 10,000 yen bills "Fukuzawas" because he was on the bill ... kind of like Benjamin on the $100 US bill.  But that was more of an esoteric joke taken from rap music.  Flam, any suggestions?

Oh, and yes, people who listen to rap music sometimes call $100 bills "Benjamins" for Benjamin Franklin's picture on the face side.


----------



## Tisia

We don't use slang with money! WE RESPECT IT  so much that it is more worth than the person owning it 

Tisia


----------



## Tatzingo

Tisia said:
			
		

> We don't use slang with money! WE RESPECT IT  so much that it is more worth than the person owning it
> 
> Tisia



Good for you!

But tell me, on behalf of which country are you speaking, relative to your following languages?

Iran, Persian, Kurdish, English, Finnish?

Tatz.


----------



## Tisia

Tatzingo said:
			
		

> Good for you!
> 
> But tell me, on behalf of which country are you speaking, relative to your following languages?
> Iran, Persian, Kurdish, English, Finnish?
> Tatz.



I had Iran in mind, but I just realized that it can be applied to anywhere. Ah, this was just another way to say that we don't have slang names for money

Tisia


----------



## robbie_SWE

The Swedish currency is called *krona*. It's devided like this: 

1000 = en tusing
500 = en femhundring
100 = en hundring
50 = en femtilapp
20 = en tjuga
10 = en tia 
5 = en femma
1 = en krona
0.50 = en femtiöring


----------



## Bienvenidos

Tisia said:
			
		

> I had Iran in mind, but I just realized that it can be applied to anywhere. Ah, this was just another way to say that we don't have slang names for money
> 
> Tisia



I'd agree with Tisia. Persian doesn't have much money slang...not even in Afghanistan. I can't think of any.

*Bien*


----------



## macta123

In Hindi
1 Rupee = 100 paisas 
25 paise = Chavvani ( 4 anas of British Raj )
50 paise = Athanni  ( 8 anas of British Raj )


----------



## Tatzingo

Interesting! Thank you all for your contributions to date.

Tatz.


----------



## vince

Canadian English:
1-cent-piece: penny
5-cent piece: nickel
10 cent piece: dime
25 cent piece: quarter
50-cent piece: no name cuz no one's ever seen it
1-dollar coin: loonie (because of the loon on it, not because it is looney!
2-dollar coin: toonie (two + loonie = toonie )

These terms are not really slang, they are obligatory terms. If you say to someone, "I have two 25-cent pieces", they will look at you funny. I think this practice (calling coins pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) comes from the U.S.

Dollars are also known as "bucks" here. 1000 bucks = $1000
One thousand dollars is also known as a "grand": 52 grand = $52 000


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek:
€1=We just say ένα ευρώ, _n._ (*e*na evr*o*); before the introduction of the Euro, the 1 drachma coin was called φράγκο, _n._, (fr*a*ngo, named after the french franc). Lately the name μονόευρo, _n._ (mon*o*evro, lit. single-euro) appears frequently. 
€2=το δίφραγκο, _n._ (to ð*i*frango, a compound word made from the Greek prefix δι- for twice (latin equiv. bis) and the french franc)
€5=το τάληρο, _n._ (to t*a*liro=>thaler/taler/talir)
€10=το δεκάρικο, _n._ (to ðek*a*riko=>tenner)
€20=το εικοσάρικο, _n._ (to ikos*a*riko=>20 euro note)
€50=το πενηντάρικο, _n._ (to penind*a*riko=>50 euro note) 
€100=το (ε)κατοστάρικο, το εκατόμπαλο, _n._ (to (e)katost*a*riko=>100 euro note, to ekat*o*mbalo, very rare)
€200=το διακοσάρι(κο), _n._ (to ðiakos*a*ri(ko)=>200 euro note)
€500=το πεντακοσάρικο, _n._ (to pendakos*a*riko=>500 euro note)
€1000=το χιλιάρικο, _n._, η χήνα, _f._, το χηνάρι, _n._ (to khili*a*riko=>1000 euro, i kh*i*na=>the goose, to khin*a*ri=>the gosling)
€5000=το πεντοχίλιαρο, _n._ (to pendokh*i*liaro=>5000 euro)
€10000=το δεκαχίλιαρο, _n._, ο παππούς, _m._ (to ðekakh*i*liaro=>10000 euro, o papp*ou*s=>the grand father, very rare)
€0.05=η πεντάρα, _f._, η μπακίρα, _f._ (i pend*a*ra=>fivepence, i bak*i*ra=>copperware)
€0.10=η δεκάρα, _f._ (i ðek*a*ra=>ten pence)
€0.20=η εικοσάρα, _f._ (i ikos*a*ra=>twenty pence)
€0.50=το πενηνταράκι, _n._, το μισόευρο, _n._ (to penindar*a*ki=>fifty pence, lit. "the small 50 euro", to mis*o*evro=>lit. the half-euro coin)
more than €10000=το μπαγιόκο, _n._ (to baʝ*o*ko, from the italian _baiocco_), το κομπόδεμα, _n._ (to komb*o*ðema=>hoard)   
Note: All the aforementioned names were in use before the introduction of the Euro and continue to be in use.


----------



## Wilma_Sweden

robbie_SWE said:


> The Swedish currency is called *krona*. It's devided like this:
> 
> 1000 = en tusing
> 500 = en femhundring
> 100 = en hundring
> 50 = en femtilapp
> 20 = en tjuga
> 10 = en tia
> 5 = en femma
> 1 = en krona
> 0.50 = en femtiöring


We also have various slang words: spänn is slang for krona. Different notes (or their value) have slang names, too, like 1,000 kr: en långschal (a long scarf), en lax (a salmon). Twenty kronor notes are often referred to as en Selma because of the face of Selma Lagerlöf, the writer, printed on those notes.



Tatzingo said:


> And as a *bonus question*, does anyone know about nicknames/colloq/slang/non-official names given to "old currency" such as the shilling in the UK? (Before my time, i'm afraid)



I never visited England before the pound went 'metric', but some (English) friends of suitable age used to refer to 5 new pence as a bob, which was slang for shilling (1 shilling = 5 new pence). There was even a ten shilling note in existence, from which the expression 'as queer as a nine bob note' was derived.  I'm sure there must be a few UK foreros out there who are old enough to have filled their piggy banks with old ha'pennies and other assorted antiquities... 

/Wilma


----------



## dinji

Finnish:
1 euro = 1 ege
5 euro = femma
10 euro = kymppi
100 euro = satanen
money = fyrkka

Swedish (Finland):
5 euro = en femma
10 euro = en tia, en tisika
20 euro = en tjugulapp
50 euro = en femtilapp
100 euro = en hundring (or hundralapp)
500 euro = en femhundring (or femhundralapp)
money = fyrk


----------



## Miguel Antonio

Tatzingo said:


> Spain (please correct me/add/confirm)
> 1 peseta: rubia, cala, pela, pluma
> 5 peseta - el duro, pavo (in Galician: peso)
> 5 centimos - una perra chica (in Galician: cadela)
> 10 centimos - una perra gorda (in Galician: can)
> 25 centimos - El real
> 50 centimos - dos reales





belén said:


> Funny, because for Spain, you answered this question yourself, all these examples (except for the "duro") belong to the old times..
> And yet you may tell from the way people speak which age group they belong to or mingle with: _no tiene/no vale una perra, un real, un duro _(these would be my grandmother's, my mother's and my generation, respectively)
> 
> Then, with the peseta, besides the mentioned "duro", we had "talego" for 1000 pesetas (verde, lagarto) and "kilo" for 1 million pesetas. Unfortunately, there isn't much creativity with the Euro, I still haven't heard any words related to the new currency in Spanish...


I've heard the word _pavo_, formerly used for a 5 peseta coin or even as a translation for the American "buck", now used to designate the euro:
_Veinte pavos_ used to be 100 pesetas until the arrival of the euro, now it means 20 euros.
Well before my time we also had in Galicia _pataca_ and _patacón_, but I am not aware of what the currency denomination they equated to, they pre-date the peseta. A _patacona _in Galician is a nickname for a female money lender of old times.
There were also _peluconas_, a gold coin by the name of _onza de oro_, the nickname was due to the elaborate hairstyle of the Bourbon king depicted on the head side.


----------



## RaLo18

The only Israeli slang for a coin is _Shnekel_ for the two Shekel coin. Shnekel comes from "shnei shekel" (meaning two Shekels), and it actually has its own website: http://www.shnekel.net/


----------



## Mahaodeh

In Iraq: (official currency Iraqi Dinaar = 1000 fils)

عانة 'aana = a 4 fils coin (discontinued since the sixties)
درهم dirham = 50 fils

In Jordan: (official currency Jordanian Dinaar = 1000 fils)

شلن shilin = 10 fils
درهم dirham = 100 fils
ليرة leira = 1 dinaar

In Egypt (official currency guneih (pound) = 100 millim) they have shilin, bareeza and Saagh, but I don't know what they refer to exactly.

I don't know if these can be considered proper slang because they are based on the old currencies.

The only proper slang I know is أرنب = arnab (literally rabbit) for a million (whatever the currency is, but mostly Egyptian pounds)

In the late nineties a new slang started in Iraq:
ورقة waraqa (literally paper) for a 100 US dollar bill.
دفتر daftar (litrally writing book or copy book) for one hundrend 100 dollar bills.

I'm not aware of anything else.


----------



## Giulia2213

Hello, 

I don't know if it fits in this thread, but I have heard and used in French :
"Un jugement à deux centimes [d'euro]", ("d'euro" is implied)), it means a judgment without any value.


----------



## enoo

Mutichou said:


> In France, I have only heard "euro".
> When we used francs, we said "balle" (1 franc), "brique", "patate", "sac" (I don't really know how much it is), but since we use euro, there aren't such expressions, as far as I know.



So, to give a little more informations:


 Balle was just a common way to say "franc". "2 balles", "10 000 balles" ... (and if I'm right, it the money context is was a masculine noun, whereas "balle" (translation:"ball") is a feminine noun. "Un balle", and not "une balle", for "one franc".)


 "Brique" (brick) and "Patate" (potatoe); "Une brique"/"Une patate" = 10 000 francs ... although I often thought it was 100 000 ... I'm not very good with huge numbers, oops.


 It _seems_ that a "sac" meant 1000 "old" francs(=10 "new" francs)
 _(Note: Around 1960, France revalued  its currency, 100 francs would mean 1 "new" franc. Then the "new francs" were just called "francs", and the previous francs were called the "old francs'"...)_
What is strange is that from what I heard lately (before the euro), a "sac" meant 1000 (new) Francs, and not just 10 francs, as if its "1000 something" meaning remained, regardless of the value of the currency.

I don't remember any specific name for small values of money in franc. 
And as far as I know, there's not specific names yet for euros. Some people now use "balle" to talk about Euro, and some still use "balle" to talk about Franc, so it makes things rather confusing . 
It's the same for the other amounts, I once heard someone say "2 sacs", and the person in front of him asked "A _sac_ in euros or in francs ?" with a confused look on his face, it was funny.



> I don't know if it fits in this thread, but I have heard and used in French :
> "Un jugement à deux centimes [d'euro]", ("d'euro" is implied)), it means a judgment without any value.


Funny, I always heard "à deux balles" and never "à deux centimes". Now I don't know if, with the euros, it means "2 euros" or "2 francs" :]


----------



## Giulia2213

enoo said:


> Giulia said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if it fits in this thread, but I have heard and used in French :
> "Un jugement à deux centimes [d'euro]", ("d'euro" is implied)), it means a judgment without any value.
> 
> 
> 
> Funny, I always heard "à deux balles" and never "à deux centimes". Now I don't know if, with the euros, it means "2 euros" or "2 francs" :]
Click to expand...

2 euro is a more important value than 2 francs (1 euro worths more or less 6 francs, so 2 francs worth really less than 1 euro), so it may mean 2 francs. Another hypothesis of meaning is "_deux balles_" = "_2 euro cents_".


----------



## Hyper Squirrel

I occasionally hear American bills referred to the president on it. For example, a Lincoln for a five dollar bill. That would make a one dollar bill a Washington, a five dollar bill a Lincoln, a ten dollar bill a Hamilton, a twenty dollar bill a Jackson, and a hundred dollar bill a Franklin (Or, more often, a Benjamin).


----------



## Miguel Antonio

Bienvenidos said:


> I'd agree with Tisia. Persian doesn't have much money slang...not even in Afghanistan. I can't think of any.
> 
> *Bien*


Many, many years ago I lived in Iran for a while and I recall that people there would use the word _toman_ to refer to ten rials (the unit of currency back then, I don't know if it has changed now), so instead of "fifty rials" they wold quote "_panj toman_", i.e. five _toman_. I think that's the kind of "slang" the thread is asking for.

In Portugal before the euro, there were the following:

1 escudo = 1,000 _réis _(plural for _real_), so people would say _cem milréis_ instead of _cem escudos _(100 escudos)
Fractions of 50 cents of escudo were expressed as _e quinhentos, _i.e. 2.50 escudos were called _dois e quinhentos_, not _dois e cinquenta_ as one would expect.
1,000 escudos = _um conto de réis _(1,000,000_ réis_)
100 _réis = 10 centavos = 1 to__stão, _so
1 escudo= _dez tost__ões (10 __ tost__ões)_
And also
1 escudo = _1 pau_ which is akin to the Spanish _palo _I once heard in Argentina referring to 1,000 (old) _pesos_ (1979)

In Mozambique, the national currency is the _Metical_, but people call it _conto_ and also _pau_ (2008).
_
_


----------



## SDLX Master

Tatzingo said:


> Hi!
> 
> Each country obviously has it's own names for money and colloquial words for the same. I'm not referring to the word that denotes the currency, eg. Money can be "cash" or "dosh" nor the lack of it... "skint" "broke" etc. (perhaps in a separate thread!) What i am interested in is how each country refers to the denominations of its own currency, eg.
> 
> UK
> £10 note - a "tenner"
> £5 note = a "fiver"
> 2p, 1p coins = "coppers"
> 
> Spain (please correct me/add/confirm)
> 5 peseta - el duro
> 5 centimos - una perra chica
> 10 centimos - una perra gorda
> 25 centimos - El real
> 50 centimos - dos reales
> 
> I'm sure that the states has its own slang/colloq. such as.. nickel?
> What about other countries? If you are from an EU with the Euro, are you aware of any such words that refer to either the Euro or the pre-Euro currency (lira, peseta, deutschmark etc...)?
> 
> And as a *bonus question*, does anyone know about nicknames/colloq/slang/non-official names given to "old currency" such as the shilling in the UK? (Before my time, i'm afraid)
> 
> Tatz.
> 
> Ps. (edit) Mods - I wasn't too sure whether to put this in Cultural discussions or here with glossaries but as it's essentially going to be a list, i thought it would find a home here...


 
Interesting thread. Here in Peru, slang is not specific to the amount. There are two words we use, *"china"* for 50 cents of 1 PEN (Peruvian Nuevo Sol) and *"luca"* for 1 PEN (Peruvian Nuevo Sol). So, if we say, 50 lucas, that means S/. 50.00 Nuevos Soles.


----------



## catlady60

American money slang:
$1 bill : a buck
$2 bill: a deuce (the 2 dollar bill is rare)
$5 bill: a fin, a five-spot, a V (Roman numeral for 5)
$10 bill: a sawbuck, a ten-spot
$20 bill: a double sawbuck, sometimes a twenty-spot (old-fashioned)
$50 bill: fifty bucks
$100 bill: a c-note, a benjamin, a century
$500 bill: a D-note (no longer printed and rare)
$1,000: a grand, a G, a stack (urban youth slang), a thou
$1,000,000: a mil


----------

