coffee money
/ˈkɔfi ˌmʌni/
"coffee-money" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“coffee money” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Loose change.
Corpus desk
Index EN-coffee-money · coffee money · English
coffee money · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | coffee money |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɔfi ˌmʌni/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “coffee money” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
coffee money is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkɔfi ˌmʌni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for coffee money, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: A euphemism that refers to the amount of money typically enough to buy a cup of coffee. The bribe or gratuity fee sense is a calque of Malay duit kopi. The correct English form is coffee money, spelled C-O-F-F-E-E- -M-O-N-E-Y.
Definition
- 1Loose change.
- 2A small amount of money given as a bribe or gratuity.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how coffee money appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Singapore is free of corruption as any place on earth. (Even small-scale bribery attempts lead to immediate arrest.) Ironically, this has surfaced as a disadvantage for Singaporeans conducting business in other countries - where contacts aren’t always considered binding, bureaucratic inefficiency can make a mockery of time tables, infrastructures can be u…
Obviously he was trying to wear out your patience in the hope that you will hand over some undercounter coffee money to him instead of paying for the official tax/fine which does not benefit him at all.
Etymology
A euphemism that refers to the amount of money typically enough to buy a cup of coffee. The bribe or gratuity fee sense is a calque of Malay duit kopi.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.