Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tea money

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.68 in modern English

Syllables: tea -money
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A bribe, especially for facilitating a business dealing.

Slang; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Low-ranking officers in Thailand’s 200,000-strong police force are poorly paid and are infamous for topping up salaries with "tea money" for everything from minor driving offences to serious crimes."

Etymology

Calque of Burmese လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး (lakhpak-ranyhpui:, “tea money”) likely.

Usage

Phrases

coffee money

Frequently Paired Words

coffee money

Questions

What does tea money mean?: A bribe, especially for facilitating a business dealing.
Where does tea money come from?: Calque of Burmese လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး (lakhpak-ranyhpui:, “tea money”) likely.

How to pronounce tea money

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tea money”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tea money”.
Repeat and practice — Say “tea money” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.