bribe

bribe

English

Etymology

From Old French briber (“go begging”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: brīb, IPA^(key): /bɹaɪb/
• Rhymes: -aɪb

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

bribe (plural bribes)

1. Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.
   • c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill

     Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.

2. That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
   • 1744, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination

     Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.

   • 1974, George Fox, Mario Puzo, Earthquake

     Remy, this was a bribe! Our whole marriage has been nothing but a series of bribes!

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:bribe

Derived terms

• bribeless
• bribeproof
• bribetaking

Translations

inducement to a breaking of the rules

Afrikaans: omkoopgeld Albanian: ryshfet (sq) m, mitë (sq) f Arabic: رَشْوَة‎ f (rašwa) Egyptian Arabic: برطيل‎ m (barṭīl) Armenian: կաշառք (hy) (kašaṙkʿ) Azerbaijani: rüşvət (az), yeyki (dialectal) Bashkir: ришүәт (rişüät) Belarusian: ха́бар m (xábar), по́дкуп m (pódkup) Bengali: ঘুষ (ghuṣ) Bulgarian: по́дкуп (bg) m (pódkup), рушве́т (bg) m (rušvét) Burmese: လာဘ် (my) (labh) Catalan: suborn m Cebuano: suborno, suhol Chechen: кхаъ (qaʔ), хӏума (huma) Chinese: Cantonese: 賄賂, 贿赂 (kui2 lou6) Mandarin: 賄賂／贿赂 (zh) (huìlù), 行賄／行贿 (zh) (xínghuì) Chuvash: взятка (vzjatka) Czech: úplatek (cs) m Danish: bestikkelse c Dutch: steekpenning (nl) m, smeergeld (nl) n Eastern Mari: взятка (vzâtka) Erzya: взятка (vzjatka) Esperanto: koruptaĵo, ŝmirmono (eo) Estonian: pistis, altkäemaks Finnish: lahjus (fi) French: pot-de-vin (fr) m Galician: suborno m, aliciamento m, baixamau f, engado m, comechura f Georgian: ქრთამი (krtami) German: Bestechungsgeld (de) n, Schmiergeld (de) n Greek: δωροδοκία (el) f (dorodokía) (giving), δωροληψία (el) f (dorolipsía) (taking) Hausa: hanci (ha), toshiya Hebrew: שׁוֹחַד‎ m (shokhad) Hindi: रिश्वत (hi) f (riśvat), घूस (hi) f (ghūs) Hungarian: megvesztegetés (hu), csúszópénz (hu), vesztegetés (hu), kenőpénz (hu) Icelandic: múta f Ido: suborno (io) Indonesian: suap (id), sogokan (id) Italian: tangente (it) f, bustarella (it) f, mazzetta (it) f Japanese: 賄賂 (ja) (わいろ, wairo) Kazakh: пара (para) Khmer: សំណូក (km) (sɑmnouk) Korean: 뇌물(賂物) (ko) (noemul), 뢰물(賂物) (roemul) (North Korea), 회뢰(賄賂) (hoeroe) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بەرتیل‎ (ku) (bertîl) Northern Kurdish: bertîl (ku), rişwet (ku) Kyrgyz: пара (ky) (para) Lao: ສິນບົນ (sin bon) Latvian: kukulis m Lezgi: ришвет (rišvet) Lithuanian: kyšis m Macedonian: поткуп m (potkup), мито n (mito) Malay: rasuah (ms) Malayalam: കൈക്കൂലി (ml) (kaikkūli), കോഴ (ml) (kōḻa) Maltese: tixmiħ m Maori: moni whakapati, koha whakapati, utu whakapati Mongolian: Cyrillic: хахууль (mn) (xaxuulʹ), хээл (mn) (xeel) Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠬᠤᠤᠯᠢ (qaquuli), ᠬᠡᠭᠡᠯ (kegel) Ngazidja Comorian: ɓahashishi class 9/10 Nogai: карын (karın) Norwegian: Bokmål: bestikkelse m Oromo: gunaa Ossetian: гӕртам (gærtam) Pashto: بډې‎ (ps) f pl (báḍe) Persian: رشوه‎ (fa) (rešve), بدکند‎ (fa) (bad-kand) Polish: łapówka (pl) f Portuguese: suborno (pt) m, propina (pt) f Romanian: mită (ro) f, șpagă (ro) f (colloquial) Russian: взя́тка (ru) f (vzjátka), по́дкуп (ru) m (pódkup), мзда (ru) f (mzda) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ми́то n Roman: míto (sh) n Sinhalese: අල්ලස් (allas) Slovak: úplatok m Slovene: podkupnina f Southern Altai: карын (karïn) Spanish: soborno (es) m, coima (es) f (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, colloquial), matraca (es) f (Venezuela), mordida (es) f (Mexico), cohecho (es), alfadía (es) f Swahili: hongo (sw), rushwa (sw) Swedish: muta (sv) c, dusör (sv) c Tagalog: suhol, lagay (tl) Tajik: пора (tg) (pora), ришва (rišva), ришват (rišvat) Tamil: லஞ்சம் (ta) (lañcam) Tatar: ришвәт (tt) (rişwät) Telugu: లంచము (te) (lañcamu) Thai: สินบน (th) (sǐn-bon), ส่วย (th) (sùai) Tibetan: རྒྱུ་རྔན (rgyu rngan), སྐྱབས་རྟེན (skyabs rten) Turkish: rüşvet (tr) Turkmen: para, berim (tk) Tuvan: хээли (xeeli) Ukrainian: хаба́р m (xabár), пі́дкуп m (pídkup) Urdu: رشوت‎ f (riśvat), گھوس‎ f (ghūs) Uyghur: پارا‎ (para) Uzbek: pora (uz), rishva, rishvat (uz) Vietnamese: hối lộ (vi) Welsh: llwgrwobr (cy) m Yakut: бэрик (berik) Yiddish: שמיר‎ m (shmir)

Verb

bribe (third-person singular simple present bribes, present participle bribing, simple past and past participle bribed)

1. (transitive) To give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something against his/her original will, in exchange for some type of reward or relief from potential trouble.

   She was accused of trying to bribe the jury into making false statements.

   • October 23, 1848, Frederick William Robertson, an address delivered at the Opening of The Working Men's Institute

     Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.

2. (transitive) To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.

   to bribe somebody's compliance

Derived terms

• bribable
• bribee
• briber
• bribery
• outbribe
• rebribe
• unbribed

 

Translations

to give a bribe

Arabic: رَشَا‎ (rašā) Armenian: կաշառել (hy) (kašaṙel) Basque: erosi (eu) Bulgarian: подку́пвам (bg) impf (podkúpvam), подку́пя pf (podkúpja) Burmese: လာဘ်ပေး (labhpe:) Catalan: subornar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 賄賂／贿赂 (zh) (huìlù), 行賄／行贿 (zh) (xínghuì) Czech: uplatit pf, podplatit pf Danish: bestikke Dutch: omkopen (nl) Esperanto: korupti, subaĉeti Finnish: lahjoa (fi) French: verser (fr) un pot-de-vin (fr), soudoyer (fr), corrompre (fr) Galician: subornar (gl) Georgian: ქრთამის მიცემა (krtamis micema) German: bestechen (de), schmieren (de), kaufen (de) (colloquially) Greek: δωροδοκώ (el) (dorodokó) Hebrew: שיחד‎ (shichéd) Hungarian: veszteget (hu), megveszteget (hu), lefizet (hu), megken (hu) Icelandic: múta Ido: subornar (io) Indonesian: menyuap (id), menyogok (id) Irish: breab a thabhairt Italian: offrire una tangente, corrompere (it) Khmer: សែន (km) (saen), បង់សាច់ (bɑngsac) Lao: ໃຫ້ສິນບົນ (hai sin bon) Latvian: kukuļot Lithuanian: papirkti Maori: whakapati Norman: corrompre, séduithe, graîssi la patte Norwegian: Bokmål: bestikke (no) Persian: رشوه دادن‎ (rešve dâdan) Polish: dawać łapówkę impf, przekupić (pl) pf Portuguese: subornar (pt) Russian: дава́ть взя́тку impf (davátʹ vzjátku), подкупа́ть (ru) impf (podkupátʹ), подкупи́ть (ru) pf (podkupítʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: митити, подмитити, поткупити, потплатити Roman: mítiti (sh), podmititi (sh), potkúpiti (sh), potplátiti (sh) Spanish: sobornar (es), cohechar (es), coimear (es) (South America), aceitar (es) (Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Cuba), untar (es), comprar (es), corromper (es) Swahili: -honga Swedish: muta (sv), besticka (sv) Tagalog: suhol Turkish: rüşvet vermek (tr) Ukrainian: дава́ти хаба́р impf (daváty xabár), підкупо́вувати impf (pidkupóvuvaty), підкупля́ти impf (pidkupljáty), підкупи́ти pf (pidkupýty) Vietnamese: đút lót (vi), đút (vi), hối lộ (vi) Welsh: llwgrwobrwyo (cy) Westrobothnian: mååkk, villgo Yiddish: שמירן‎ (shmirn), אונטערקויפֿן‎ (unterkoyfn)

Anagrams

• ribbe

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French

Etymology

Imitative. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁib/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ib

Noun

bribe f (plural bribes)

1. (obsolete) crumb (of bread)
2. scrap, bit

Further reading

• “bribe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.