pelf

noun

ˈpelf 

: money, riches

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.

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 [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of pelf in a Sentence

a politician who seems more interested in pelf than in policy

Recent Examples on the Web

Thomasine and Bushrod join up (as sheriffs relate) and share their pelf with Mexicans, Native Americans, other Black people, and poor white people. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 13 May 2022

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French pelfre booty

First Known Use

circa 1505, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

pelf

noun

ˈpelf 

: money sense 1a, riches