Slang and dialetct for "money" in English and Spanish
money ~ dinero
In Peru we say "plata" for "dinero" and in my area of Scotland we say "cash" , "smash" or "readdies" for "money".
What is the slang / dialect for "dinero" or "money" where you are?
14 Answers
There are tons of English slang words for money in the US: scratch, digit, dough, moola, dinero, coin, etc.
In Spain alone, I know about 28 words for it, although not everybody knows them all.
ARGENTINA: Guita, plata, mango, sope, mosca, chaucas (poco dinero), chirola (poco dinero),
BOLIVIA: Peso, quivo, lucas, suelto ...
CHILE: phaucha, gamba, kina, luca, palo, gringo, monea, plata, billullo (billetes), chipes
COSTA RICA: harina, chochosca, greenpaper, cañas, rojos, tejita, puya, menudo, guevo, papeles, los rogelios, el pozo...
CUBA: astilla, gallo, guaca, guano
El SALVADOR: bolas, feria, lana
ESPAÑA: pasta (gansa), tela, viruta, moni, guita, leuro, perras, duros, pela, plata, money, china, cuartos, perras, billetaje, no tener blanca (no tener dinero), no tener una gorda (no tener dinero), lana, metal, peseta, taleguilla, parné, cumquibus, taleguilla, manteca, panocha, mosca, mone(d)a,...
MÉXICO: billete, lechuga, lana, feria, varo, Sor Juana, Benito, Juaritos, Cuauhtémoc, tostón, MILagro, marmaja, morlaco, pachocha, excremento, hija, hermana, madre, bola, billeye...
NICARAGUA: feria
PERÚ: florencios, Fichas, luca, china, ferro, guita, plata, mony, marmaja, billegas, mangos, cocos...
PARAGUAY: pirapire, hendy cabaju resà, moñay, efe.
PUERTO RICO: chavo, chavería (poco dinero)
VENEZUELA: plata, bolos, rial, billullo, lucas, churupo, palos, estar limpio (no tener dinero), billete...
COLOMBIA: pesos, plata, barras, Villegas, melones, palos, lucas, luquitas, biyuyo...
EL SALVADOR: paro, bola, pisto, feria, biyuyo, chirilicas, money, niuncinco(no tengo dinero).
HONDURAS: polas, tablas, biyuyo, payulos, pisto, varas, andar hule o liso (no tener dinero)
GUATEMALA: pisto, varas, tukis, lana, biyuyo, billete, plata, paloma, un peso
URUGUAY: puita, plata, mango, sope, mosca, fierro, guiye,
A while ago I asked for terms for money.
This is the list of what was sent in.
Bread (cockney "Bread and honey - money"
Dough
Dosh
Spondoolics
Splosh
It's called cheddar. (cheese)
cocoa –cacao Aztec civilization used it as money.
arroz –rice Rice was used to estimate how much money an Asian farmer had in the feudalistic society.
In Argentina:
plata: Ese tipo tiene un montón de plata!!
guita: Cuánta guita que tenés!!
Centavo/Peso/Sope: No tengo un centavo!! o No tengo un peso!! o No tengo un sope (Sope is Peso al revés)
Mango: No tengo un mango!! o Es re barato!! sale 3 mangos!!
Mosca: Tiene toda la mosca
1 luca: Me salió 1 luca (= 1000 pesos argentinos)
1 gamba: Me salió una gamba (= 100 pesos argentinos)
un palo verde: un millón de dólares
"Tela" : "Tiene mucha tela" (he has a lot of money)
"Cobre": No tengo ni un cobre" (I don't have any money)
We have had so many different denominations since I was a kid: "Peso moneda nacional', "Peso Ley", "Peso Argentino", "Austral", and "Pesos" again (actual). To have an idea of the inflation that caused all these denomination changes, just let say that 1 peso (actual) = 1,000,000,000,000 pesos moneda nacional. And that happened in only 40 years.
Bacon "Bring home the bacon."
beans---hence the bean counters! (accountants)
Bucks Dollars
Shrapnel! Just for coins, of course.
Lana - Estoy muy pobre, no tengo lana. I am poor, I have no money.
liga - Me vas a dar la liga. Give me some money.
guita - El salario de ese trabajo es muy poca guita. The salary for that job is very little money.
American/English slang:
1.grease
2.sugar
3.green(s)
4.package
5.Benjamins
6.dead Presidents
7.fat
8.moolah
9.C-note ($100. bill)
10.buck 1$
11.cheese
•twankie 13.scratch
14.cabbage
15.lettuce
16.loot
Mexican slang:
"lana", and "billete".
1.feria
2.plata
3.oro
Cuban:
1.baro
2.chavito
3.divisa
4.fula
I think there was a time when "moolah" or "moola" also meant money in the US. Here in the Philippines, our most common Filipino words for money are "pera" and "kwarta (I think that would have been "cuarta" except that we don't have the letter "c" in our alphabet and the letter "u" is replaced by "w" when used together with another vowel), but the "cua" sound is exactly how our "kwa" sounds. "Pera" and "cuarta" are Spanish words or at least Spanish-sounding words to us here, but I don't think they mean anything related to money in Spanish.
In Venezuela no se utiliza mucho la palabra "dinero". En el uso cotidiano, se dice "plata".
In Venezuela there are also a number of slang alternatives to "plata":
Reales,
Churupos,
guita,
pasta,
billete,
billuyo,
villegas,
morocotas,
lucas (mil),
lana,
cobres.
"Una bola e' real" "Lotsa dough"
cash, paper (referring to bills)
plastic (refers to credit card)
wonga,
Brass,
a lady (lady godiva) fiver(five pound note),
Do have you any money? are you holding?
(folding) for paper money,
a score(twenty pound note),
readies,
I have no money(as usual) I am brassic
A monkey = £500
A pony = £25 (macaroni - cockney)
A grand - £1000
A ton = £100
A nifty = £50
A fiver = £5 (lady Godivia / fiver in Cockney)
A smacker = £1
A quid - £1
Dosh
In Spanish:
dinero-money
monedas-coins
dolares-dolars
libras-pounds
Canada
A loonie 1$ coin
a tooney 2$ coin.
Guatemala and El Salvador
In El Salvodor I have heard "La papa"
Feria
pisto and billullo
Panama
Chimbilín
Spain:
duro used to be the old 5 peseta coin, it is still used to say no money, no tengo ni un duro.
napo: the old geen bill of one thousand pesetas
Una libra: one Euro (nowadays, used to be one hundred pesetas)
la pasta: dough
In Costa Rica,
I have heard "Diñar"
have also heard chivo, but I am not sure where it is used.
In Spain : Pelas, guita, pasta gansa (abbreviate pasta), tela and "money" with spanish pronunciation.
In Spain, at least in Catalunya it's la pasta, in English you can call it "bread" if you're an old hippy.
In Mexico City, where my parents were born we say lana.
Smackers - pounds
Spons - short for spondooliks
Squid (for quid nowadays apparently)
Filthy lucre
Wedge
Wad - "Shut ur mouf an' lookit ma wad!" Harry Enfield (Shut your mouth and look at my wad)
Shrapnel - loose change
In Republica Dominicana ,
Tulipanes , tolete, billullo , billette , tablas, lana ,
No tengo ne un quinto , I have no money .
Hmmm....Where I live it can be called: "bucks"," dough", "cash"," greenbacks", and ,"bread."
But, I'm sure there's tons more 
In Argentina,
chauchas (poco dinero), morlacos., viyuya., chapitas (monedas), efectivo, pasta, patacón,
US: bucks, cash, bills, and sometimes "monies" although that plural form (plural of money) is rarely used in everyday speech other than in statements like these or in old-fashioned formal bank documents, etc.
One occasionally hears "wampum" but that's pretty much always intended to sound humorous.
In England "dosh" is also used.
They say plata all over South America to an extent that it's not really slang.
There are tons of English slang words for money in the US: scratch, digit, dough, moola, dinero, coin, etc.
In English I know that we use these in ''Kentucky'' bread, mula(moola)
I just had another look through all the answers everyone has posted - I think this will be an excellent resource for us. I think I'll bring a list into my college (where I study interpreting) and see if can add anything else on.
Thanks to everyone who contributed!
