pelf

noun

Save Word

\ ˈpelf

Definition of pelf

: money, riches

Synonyms Did you know? Example Sentences Learn More About pelf

Synonyms for pelf

Synonyms

bread
[slang],
bucks,
cabbage
[slang],
cash,
change,
chips,
coin,
currency,
dough,
gold,
green,
jack
[slang],
kale
[slang],
legal tender,
lolly
[British],
long green
[slang],
loot,
lucre,
money,
moola
(or moolah)
[slang],
needful,
scratch
[slang],
shekels
(also sheqels or shekelim or shekalim or sheqalim),
tender,
wampum

Did you know?

In the late Middle Ages, the Anglo-French word pelfre, meaning "booty" or "stolen goods," was borrowed into English as pelf with the added meaning of "property." (Pelfre is also an ancestor of the English verb pilfer, meaning "to steal.") Eventually, pelf showed gains when people began to use it for "money" and "riches." In some regions of Britain the word's use was diversified further, in a depreciative way, to refer to trash and good-for-nothings. The first of those meanings was a loss by about the mid-17th century; the second has little value outside of the Yorkshire region of England.