
As technology brings new words in, older words are falling out of favour with younger age groups, with ‘tuppence’ used by 54 per cent of people aged over 55 compared to just 16 per cent of 18-24-year olds.
Source: The most confusing slang words for money, and where the terms come from – inews.co.uk
TOP 50 SLANG WORDS FOR MONEY
1. Cash
2. Notes
3. Dosh
4. Coin
5. Bob
6. Dough
7. Copper
8. Tuppence
9. Shrapnel
10. Reddies
11. Bucks
12. Wad 28%
13. Silver
14. Squids
15. Bread
16. Lolly
17. Loot
18. Ton
19. Score
20. Bronze
21. Smackers
22. Spondulix
23. Wedge
24. Moola
25. Paper
26. Knicker
27. Pony
28. Beer Tokens
29. Monkeys
30. Lucre
31. Bacon
32. Oner ‘Wunner’
33. Buckaroos
34. K
35. Lady Godiva
36. Green
37. Nuggets
38. Bunce
39. Arthur Ashe
40. Cheddar
The most confusing slang words for money, and where the terms come from, according to Susie Dent:1. Rhino (chosen by 49 per cent of Brits) – No one knows for sure where this 400-year-old term for money comes from. Some people link it to the value of rhino horn or the idea of paying through the nose (rhinoceros is from the Greek for ‘nose-horn’). Perhaps the arrival of the first rhino in Britain suggested the sense of something valuable.2. Pavarotti (49 per cent) – Slang for a ten-pound note or tenner, this is a pun on the name of the famous ‘tenor’ Luciano Pavarotti.3. Marigold (48 per cent) – Until the 19th century, coins rather than notes were the norm, and their colour spawned a number of terms. Gold for example gave us the terms ‘gingerbread’, ‘yellow boys’ ‘canaries’, and ‘goldfinch’. ‘Marigold’ once denoted any golden coin, but it is now more specifically used for the sum of one million pounds.4. Commodore (48 per cent) – The result of a complicated and clever bit of rhyming wordplay for £15. Cockney rhyming slang for a fiver is a ‘Lady Godiva’, and the group the Commodores are best-known for their song ‘Three Times A Lady’.5. Biscuits (47 per cent) – An extension of the popular slang link between money and food, ‘biscuits’ joins bread, dough, cake, sugar, potatoes, and many other foodstuffs in the money lexicon, which are seen as either the staples or the sweeteners of life.6. Cabbage (47 per cent) – The colour of money, orginating from the United States, has also created a host of slang terms. The term ‘greenback’ quickly emerged after the creation of the dollar bill by Abraham Lincoln, and a number of green vegetables followed in its wake, such as ‘kale’, ‘lettuce’, and ‘cabbage’. ‘Cabbage’ had in fact already been used by London tailors in the 17th century for pieces of material pinched from a job and sold for a profit.7. Beehive (47 per cent) – Rhyming slang for five; hence a five-pound note.8. Sir Isaac (46 per cent) – Sir Isaac Newton was the face of the old one-pound note before it went out of circulation.9. Archer (46 per cent) – A reference to the libel case involving the novelist Jeffrey Archer. The term is slang for the sum of £2,000, a reference to the amount that Archer allegedly offered as a bribe which was the basis of the case.10. Darwin (45 per cent) – A ten-pound note, which features the face of Charles Darwin.