dirty money

dirty money

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

dirty money (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Money that is illegally gained, illegally transferred or illegally utilized, especially money gained through forgery, bribery, prostitution, money laundering, or theft.

   Synonym: ill-gotten gains

   • 2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 1, in Moneyland, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 15:

     Corruption is a force multiplier for the West's enemies, and yet the West continues to accept dirty money into its economies by the billion.

   • 2021 June 10, Mark Schoofs, “She Exposed the Truth About ‘Dirty Money’: It’s Everywhere”, in The New York Times‎:

     Taken together, the articles exposed a dark truth: “Dirty money” — terrorist financing, drug cartel funds, fortunes embezzled from developing nations, the profits from organized crime — flows so freely through the world’s most powerful financial institutions that it has become inextricable from the so-called legitimate economy.

2. Extra money paid to workers as compensation for dirty or dangerous work.
   • 1997, Janus (page 24)

     The days should be long gone when workers are paid dirty money to do a risky job […]

   • 2015, Robert Sellers, The Secret Life of Ealing Studios

     […] much of the set was smeared with oil and grease. This did, however, lead to a very unpleasant working environment. 'Everyone working on the film was paid “dirty” money,' recalls Maurice. 'I got seven and six a week “dirty money”, which was wonderful for a fifteen-year-old.'

Translations

money illegally gained

Afrikaans: swart geld Armenian: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: haram pul Belarusian: бру́дныя гро́шы m pl (brúdnyja hróšy) Bulgarian: мръ́сни пари́ f pl (mrǎ́sni parí) Catalan: diner negre m Chinese: Mandarin: 黑錢／黑钱 (zh) (hēiqián) Czech: špinavé peníze m pl Dutch: zwart geld (nl) n Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: likainen raha French: argent sale (fr) m Galician: diñeiro negro m Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Schwarzgeld (de) n, schmutziges Geld n Hungarian: please add this translation if you can Japanese: 悪銭 (ja) (あくせん, akusen), 汚れたお金 (けがれたおかね, kegareta okane), 悪金 (わるがね, warugane) Korean: 부정한 돈 (bujeonghan don), 더러운 돈 (deoreoun don), 악전(惡錢) (akjeon) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Polish: brudne pieniądze pl Portuguese: dinheiro preto m, dinheiro sujo m Romanian: bani murdari m pl, bani negri m pl Russian: гря́зные де́ньги f pl (grjáznyje dénʹgi) Slovak: špinavé peniaze m pl Spanish: dinero negro (es) m, dinero B m, dinero en B m, dinero sucio m Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: kara para (tr) Ukrainian: брудні́ гро́ші m pl (brudní hróši)

See also

• danger money
• dirt cheap
• funny money
• money laundering
• money does not smell