pocket money
8
1.5
- noun
- /ˈpɑːkɪt ˈmʌni/
- UK
:
dinero de bolsillo
- You get your pocket money on Friday.
- earn pocket money
- give them pocket money
- saving my pocket money
We like saved up all our like pound pocket money.
- We like saved up all our like pound pocket money.
Examples
-
She saves her pocket money to buy a new toy.
-
Jobs were plentiful; we all picked berries and babysat in the summertime to earn pocket money.
Blog text (2) -
What happened to your pocket money?
-
What are you doing for pocket money?
-
Help the boy make some pocket money.
-
For some students, it's no big deal to bring pocket money on a field trip to a museum.
Academic text (2006) -
Most of his employees are students looking for some extra pocket money or shift workers with a bit of spare time.
Blog text (15) -
I bought us snow cones with some of the pocket money given to me by the hospital.
Fiction book (1999) -
25% of 11- to 13-year-olds have had their pocket money cut due to a parental job loss.
Academic text (2009) -
He uses his pocket money to buy snacks at school.
Synonyms
19
2.0
Money you keep to buy small things like coffee or snacks
1
6.1
A small amount of money kept for personal expenses
How Much
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small amount of money given regularly to a child' is directly derivable from combining 'pocket' (suggesting small, on‑hand funds) with 'money' (currency). The compositional image of money kept in a pocket for minor personal expenses is common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will likely understand it.
Etymology
The noun pocket money may come from the simple picture of parents putting a little money into a child's pocket. Because it was small and for the child's own spending, the phrase came to mean 'a small regular allowance'.