Etymology

if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

if you pay pea·nuts, you get monk·eys

Today it means: Offering a low payment or salary will not attract skilled workers or employees. Full definition →

First used mid 20th c.
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The story

A reference to peanuts (“especially of a salary: a very small or insufficient amount”) (originally US slang dating to the mid 20th century) and monkey (“a person of minimal intelligence, idiot”), with a humorous allusion to the fact that monkeys are fond of nuts.

First known use, by meaning

  • from mid 20th c. Offering a low payment or salary will not attract skilled workers or employees.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.