Cash in Different Languages
Discover 'Cash' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
Cash, it's a word we use every day, but have you ever stopped to think about its significance and cultural importance? Cash is more than just a way to buy goods and services, it's a symbol of wealth and prosperity, a tangible representation of our economic system. From the first coins minted in ancient Greece to the paper money of today, cash has played a vital role in the development of societies and cultures around the world.
But what about cash in different languages? Knowing the translation of cash in various languages can be not only interesting but also practical. Whether you're traveling, doing business, or simply expanding your cultural knowledge, understanding the word for cash in different languages can be a valuable tool.
For example, in Spanish, cash is 'dinero', in French, it's 'argent', in German, it's 'Geld', in Russian, it's 'деньги' (den'gi), and in Japanese, it's 'お金' (okane).
Stay tuned to learn more about the translations of cash in different languages and cultures!
Cash
Cash in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | kontant | ||
| The Afrikaans word "kontant" originally referred to the sound of hard money and is related to the English word "counterfeit". | |||
| Amharic | ጥሬ ገንዘብ | ||
| (The phrase) "ጥሬ ገንዘብ" literally means "raw money" in Amharic, indicating wealth that isn't invested or used for financial gain. | |||
| Hausa | tsabar kudi | ||
| "Tsabar kudi" can also mean "pile of money" or "abundance of money" in Hausa. | |||
| Igbo | ego | ||
| In Igbo, the word "ego" is a homonym that also means "money". | |||
| Malagasy | vola | ||
| The word "vola" in Malagasy comes from the French word "voleur" (thief). | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | ndalama | ||
| The word 'ndalama' is also used to refer to a specific unit of currency, equivalent to 1 kwacha. | |||
| Shona | mari | ||
| The Shona word 'mari' is derived from the Portuguese word 'maravedi', which referred to a small copper coin used in Portugal during the 16th century. | |||
| Somali | lacag caddaan ah | ||
| In Somali, the term "lacag caddaan ah" not only refers to physical cash but also denotes any type of non-physical currency, such as electronic funds or mobile money. | |||
| Sesotho | chelete | ||
| "Chelete' is also a metaphor for 'wealth' or 'riches' | |||
| Swahili | fedha taslimu | ||
| The Swahili word "fedha taslimu" is derived from the Arabic word "fidda" (silver) and "taslim" (payment), thus referring to the handing over of silver coins as payment. | |||
| Xhosa | imali | ||
| "Imali" can refer to cows and other forms of wealth in addition to currency. | |||
| Yoruba | owo | ||
| In Yoruba, "owo" also means "money" or "wealth" and is cognate with the Igbo word "ego" and the Edo word "owho".} | |||
| Zulu | ukheshi | ||
| The word "ukheshi" can also mean "treasure" or "wealth" in Zulu. | |||
| Bambara | nafolomugu | ||
| Ewe | ga | ||
| Kinyarwanda | amafaranga | ||
| Lingala | mbongo na maboko | ||
| Luganda | sente | ||
| Sepedi | kheše | ||
| Twi (Akan) | sika | ||
Cash in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | السيولة النقدية | ||
| 'سيولة' in the context of financial assets refers to the liquidity of an asset, meaning how easily it can be converted into cash. | |||
| Hebrew | כסף מזומן | ||
| כסף מזומן (cash) derives from the word "כסף" (silver), used to describe coins in the past. | |||
| Pashto | نغدي | ||
| The Pashto word "نغدي" can also refer to "liquidity" or "solvency". | |||
| Arabic | السيولة النقدية | ||
| 'سيولة' in the context of financial assets refers to the liquidity of an asset, meaning how easily it can be converted into cash. | |||
Cash in Western European Languages
| Albanian | para në dorë | ||
| Basque | dirua | ||
| The word "dirua" in Basque possibly derives from the Latin word "denarius," meaning "silver coin." | |||
| Catalan | efectiu | ||
| The Catalan word "efectiu" originally meant "effective" or "actual" but has since taken on the additional meaning of "cash". | |||
| Croatian | unovčiti | ||
| The verb "unovčiti" is derived from the noun "novac" (money) and originally meant "to convert into money". It can also be used figuratively to mean "to derive some advantage or profit from something". | |||
| Danish | kontanter | ||
| The word 'kontanter' derives from the French word 'comptant', meaning 'ready money' or 'immediate payment'. | |||
| Dutch | contant geld | ||
| The Dutch word "contant geld" derives from Middle Dutch "contant", meaning "ready" or "immediately," referring to the immediate exchange of goods for money. | |||
| English | cash | ||
| The term 'cash' has its roots in the Latin word 'cassa,' which refers to a chest or box used to store money or valuables. | |||
| French | en espèces | ||
| The French expression "en espèces" ultimately derives from the Latin word "species," meaning "appearance" or "form," referring to the physical form of money as opposed to its value. | |||
| Frisian | kontant | ||
| "Kontant" in Frisian also means "immediately". | |||
| Galician | efectivo | ||
| In Galician, "efectivo" comes from Latin "effectivus" and also means "effective", "efficient", or "real". | |||
| German | kasse | ||
| The word "Kasse" also refers to a | |||
| Icelandic | reiðufé | ||
| The word "reiðufé" is a compound of two Old Norse words, "reiði" (meaning "ready") and "fé" (meaning "money, property"). This compound is related to the German word "bargeld" (literally "ready money"). | |||
| Irish | airgead | ||
| The Irish word "airgead" is derived from the Old Irish word "airget," meaning "silver." | |||
| Italian | contanti | ||
| "Contanti" also refers to the cash kept on the person, in addition to that in the bank account. | |||
| Luxembourgish | boer | ||
| In Luxembourgish, the word "boer" is derived from French "bourse" meaning "purse", referring to a pouch to carry coins. | |||
| Maltese | flus kontanti | ||
| Flus kontanti originated from the English word "flush", meaning a sudden increase or supply of something, particularly money. | |||
| Norwegian | penger | ||
| The word "penger" originally meant "metal plates," referring to the physical form of early currencies. | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | dinheiro | ||
| "Dinheiro" originates from the Roman "denarius", a silver coin. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | airgead | ||
| The word 'airgead' originally meant 'silver' in Scots Gaelic, but came to mean 'cash' due to the use of silver coins as currency. | |||
| Spanish | efectivo | ||
| The Spanish word "efectivo" literally translates to "effective" in English, a reference to its status as a means of immediate and valid payment. | |||
| Swedish | kontanter | ||
| The word "kontanter" in Swedish is derived from the French word "comptant", meaning "ready money" or "in cash." | |||
| Welsh | arian parod | ||
| The Welsh word 'arian parod' is borrowed from the English phrase 'ready money' ('arian' means 'silver' or 'money' and 'parod' means 'ready'). | |||
Cash in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | наяўныя грошы | ||
| The word "наяўныя грошы" in Belarusian is derived from Polish, where it means "having, present". | |||
| Bosnian | gotovina | ||
| The word 'gotovina' in Bosnian can also refer to coins as well as currency in general. | |||
| Bulgarian | пари в брой | ||
| In Bulgarian, "пари в брой" can also mean "cash-on-delivery." | |||
| Czech | hotovost | ||
| The word "hotovost" in Czech also means "preparedness" or "readiness". | |||
| Estonian | sularaha | ||
| The word "sularaha" is derived from the German word "solares" meaning "sun" and "raha" meaning "money", suggesting its historical association with gold coins. | |||
| Finnish | käteinen raha | ||
| In Finnish, the word "käteinen raha" literally means "tangible money". | |||
| Hungarian | készpénz | ||
| "Készpénz" derives from the Hungarian words "kész" meaning "ready" and "pénz" meaning "money." | |||
| Latvian | skaidrā nauda | ||
| Latvian skaidrā nauda (English 'cash') derives from skaidrs (clear), with its original meaning being a countably clear sum, in contrast to unclear, non-countable wealth, such as land, cattle, grain. | |||
| Lithuanian | grynaisiais | ||
| The word "grynaisiais" is derived from the Latin word "granus" (grain), referring to the historical use of grain as a form of currency. | |||
| Macedonian | готовина | ||
| "Готовина" derives from the verb "готви" meaning "to prepare, to have ready", because money is a commodity that you have ready to buy things with. | |||
| Polish | gotówka | ||
| In Polish, "gotówka" also means 'readiness' or 'willingness'. | |||
| Romanian | bani gheata | ||
| The Romanian word "bani gheata" literally means "ice money". | |||
| Russian | наличные | ||
| "Наличные" is derived from the Old Russian word "наличье", meaning "presence" or "availability". | |||
| Serbian | готовина | ||
| The Serbian word 'готовина' is derived from the Proto-Slavic word 'gotovati', meaning 'to prepare', and is related to the Russian word 'готовый' meaning 'ready' or 'complete'. | |||
| Slovak | hotovosť | ||
| The word "hotovosť" originated in the Latin "paratus" meaning "ready" and later, "money." | |||
| Slovenian | gotovino | ||
| The word 'gotovina' derives from the Latin 'pecunia', meaning 'money' or 'cash'. | |||
| Ukrainian | готівкою | ||
| "Готівкою" comes from the Polish "gotowy" (finished, prepared), which was also loaned into Ukrainian and Russian as "готовий" (ready, prepared). | |||
Cash in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | নগদ | ||
| নগদ comes from Sanskrit "nagada", meaning "sounding" or "ringing", possibly referring to the sound of coins. | |||
| Gujarati | રોકડ | ||
| "રોકડ" (rokad) in Gujarati derives from the Sanskrit word "draksha" (currency). | |||
| Hindi | नकद | ||
| The word "नकद" in Hindi derives from the Sanskrit word "नक" (nak), meaning "ready" or "on hand." | |||
| Kannada | ನಗದು | ||
| The Kannada word 'ನಗದು' derives from the Sanskrit word 'नग्न' (nagna), meaning 'naked' or 'uncovered', and is used to describe currency because it is a form of uncovered or unbacked money. | |||
| Malayalam | പണം | ||
| "പണം" may originate from the Tamil "பணம்" (paṇam) and the Proto-Dravidian "*paṇam", all meaning "coin or money." | |||
| Marathi | रोख | ||
| The word 'रोख' (cash) in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word 'द्रक्ष', which means 'to see' or 'to observe'. | |||
| Nepali | नगद | ||
| The word "नगद" is derived from the Sanskrit word "नगदम्" meaning "that which is ready or present." | |||
| Punjabi | ਨਕਦ | ||
| The Punjabi word "ਨਕਦ" also translates to "ready" in English. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | මුදල් | ||
| The word "මුදල්" (cash) is derived from the Sanskrit word "मूल" (mūla), meaning "root" or "origin". | |||
| Tamil | பணம் | ||
| In the pre-colonial period, the word referred to a weight of gold used in temples to make offerings to the deities. | |||
| Telugu | నగదు | ||
| The word "నగదు" also means "ornament" and "jewel" in Telugu. | |||
| Urdu | نقد | ||
| The word نقد (naqd) is also derived from the Arabic word for 'ready,' indicating its immediate availability. | |||
Cash in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 现金 | ||
| 现金 can also be used as an antonym of 记账 (jì zhàng), which means "accounting" or "charging on account." | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 現金 | ||
| "現金" in Chinese is a compound of the characters 現 (xiàn) “present, ready, real, cash” and 金 (jīn) “gold, metal.” | |||
| Japanese | 現金 | ||
| The word "現金" (genkin) also means "ready money" or "in cash" in Japanese. | |||
| Korean | 현금 | ||
| The Korean word "현금" literally means "present money". | |||
| Mongolian | бэлэн мөнгө | ||
| The term can also apply figuratively to money that is readily available, or which has been prepared in advance. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ငွေသား | ||
| The Burmese word ငွေသား derives from Pali, where the word သား refers to "essence" or "meat", and the word ငွေ refers to "silver", suggesting that cash was once considered as valuable as silver or even its essence. | |||
Cash in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | tunai | ||
| The word "tunai" in Indonesian might be derived from Tamil "tun" meaning "debt" or Sanskrit "tuna" meaning "missing". | |||
| Javanese | awis | ||
| "Awis" can mean either "money" or "leaf" in Javanese. | |||
| Khmer | សាច់ប្រាក់ | ||
| Lao | ເງິນສົດ | ||
| Malay | wang tunai | ||
| "Wang" means money or cash while "tunai" means immediately or real. "Tunai" is derived from a Sanskrit term "tunah". | |||
| Thai | เงินสด | ||
| เงินสด is a Thai word derived from the Pali word "chand" meaning "moon" and the Sanskrit word "karshah" meaning "a coin". It originally referred to silver coins, but now refers to any form of physical currency. | |||
| Vietnamese | tiền mặt | ||
| "Tiền mặt" literally means "face money", referring to the fact that cash is physical money that can be held and exchanged face-to-face. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | cash | ||
Cash in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | nağd pul | ||
| The Azerbaijani word | |||
| Kazakh | қолма-қол ақша | ||
| The term қолма-қол ақша literally translates to 'hand-to-hand money', reflecting the physical exchange of banknotes. | |||
| Kyrgyz | накталай акча | ||
| "Акча" is a Turkic word meaning "coin" or "money" that has been borrowed into Kyrgyz. | |||
| Tajik | нақд | ||
| "Нақд" (cash) stems from Arabic "نقذ" (to deliver from constraint) and is also used to mean "criticism". | |||
| Turkmen | nagt | ||
| Uzbek | naqd pul | ||
| The word "naqd pul" also means "ready money" and is a common synonym of "pul" (money). | |||
| Uyghur | نەق پۇل | ||
Cash in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | kālā | ||
| Kālā can also refer to a type of shell necklace worn by aliʻi (chiefs) and their families. | |||
| Maori | moni | ||
| "Moni" is a Maori word for cash, originating from the English word "money". | |||
| Samoan | tinoitupe | ||
| The word "tinoitupe" may also refer to the value of something. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | pera | ||
| "Pera" also means "change" in Spanish and "pear" in Filipino and Spanish. | |||
Cash in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | qullqi | ||
| Guarani | viruete | ||
Cash in International Languages
| Esperanto | kontanta mono | ||
| The word "kontanta mono" is a compound word of "kontant" (cash) and "mono" (money). | |||
| Latin | cash | ||
| The Latin word 'capsa' referred to a chest or box, from which the English word 'cash' is derived. | |||
Cash in Others Languages
| Greek | μετρητά | ||
| "Μετρητά" derives from the Ancient Greek verb "μετρέω" ( | |||
| Hmong | nyiaj ntsuab | ||
| In Hmong, "nyiaj ntsuab" not only means "cash" but also "money made of paper" | |||
| Kurdish | perê pêşîn | ||
| The term "perê pêşîn" literally translates to "money in advance," suggesting its historical use as prepayment for goods and services. | |||
| Turkish | nakit | ||
| "Nakit" in Turkish can also refer to "transfer", especially money transfer. | |||
| Xhosa | imali | ||
| "Imali" can refer to cows and other forms of wealth in addition to currency. | |||
| Yiddish | געלט | ||
| While 'gelt' in Yiddish literally means 'money', it can also refer to gold itself, or even the color yellow. | |||
| Zulu | ukheshi | ||
| The word "ukheshi" can also mean "treasure" or "wealth" in Zulu. | |||
| Assamese | নগদ | ||
| Aymara | qullqi | ||
| Bhojpuri | रोकड़ा | ||
| Dhivehi | ނަގުދު ފައިސާ | ||
| Dogri | नकद | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | cash | ||
| Guarani | viruete | ||
| Ilocano | kuarta | ||
| Krio | kɔpɔ | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | پارەی نەختی | ||
| Maithili | नगद | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯁꯦꯜ | ||
| Mizo | pawisafai | ||
| Oromo | callaa | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ନଗଦ | ||
| Quechua | qullqi | ||
| Sanskrit | टङ्क | ||
| Tatar | акча | ||
| Tigrinya | ጥረ ገንዘብ | ||
| Tsonga | khexe | ||