bucks
nounColloquial
An American English slang term. Browse all American slang.
What it means
Dollars. 'Twenty bucks.' Entirely ordinary and used in contexts where the formal word would sound stiff.
In use
It was only fifteen bucks.
Can you spot me a couple bucks?
Where it comes from
From buckskin, a standard unit of trade on the American frontier — deer hides were exchanged as currency before coinage was widespread.
First attested: 18th century
Other forms
- Similar terms:
- dollars