vigorish
noun
vigorish is a noun meaning “A charge taken on bets, as by a bookie or gambling establishment” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-I-G-O-R-I-S-H, and it appears about once in every 98 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of vigorish is vigorishes.
What does vigorish mean?
noun
- 1
slangA charge taken on bets, as by a bookie or gambling establishment.
- 2
slangThe interest on a loan of money, especially for loans made by a usurer or loan shark.
- 3
slangAn amount owed on account of or payment of a bookie's charge or of interest.
- 4
slangA commission or similar extra charge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce vigorish?
- Australia
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-vigorish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of vigorish
- vigorishes plural
- viggerish
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is vigorish?
Vigorish appears about once in every 98 million words in written English, the 317,168th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Where does vigorish come from?
From Yiddish וויגריש (vigrish), from Russian вы́игрыш (výigryš, “winnings”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).