lucre

lu·cre
L1U1C3R1E1
UK/ˈluːkə/UK, rare/ˈljuːkə/US/ˈluːkɚ/Scotland/ˈlʉkəɾ/

noun

Money, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.

UncommonScrabble 7

Meanings

nounlucre (uncountable)
  1. uncountableMoney, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.

    […] [I]t's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've had my share already.

    1884 December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Body Snatcher”, in Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”, London, →OCLC; republished as “The Body-snatcher”, in The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson: The Black Arrow; The Misadventures of John Nicholson; The Body-snatcher, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895, →OCLC, page 421
    3 more examples

    A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſſe, the huſband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behauiour, giuen to hoſpitalitie, apt to teach; / Not giuen to wine, no ſtriker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not couetous; […]

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 3:2–3

    By-ends and Silver-Demas both agree; / One calls, the other runs, that he may be / A ſharer in his lucre; ſo theſe two / Take up in this World, and no further go.

    1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 145

    When a man bargains for the price of maintaining such or such principles, or of endeavouring to make out such or such a case, without believing in the soundness of the principles or the truth of the case; such a man, whether he touch the cash (or paper-money) before or after the performance of his work, and whether he work with his tongue or his pen, may, I think be fairly charged with seeking after "base lucre;" for he, in such case, manifestly sells not only the use of his talents, but his sincerity into the bargain, and drives a traffic as nearly allied to soul-selling as any thing in this world can be; […]

    1810 July 13, William Cobbett, “To the Reader”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume XVIII, number 1, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-Garden, and John Budd, Pall-Mall, published 14 July 1810, →OCLC, columns 13–14

    Synonyms: mammon

Synonyms & antonyms

nounMoney, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses)

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leh₂w-“gain, profit”
  2. Latinlucrum“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”
  3. Old Frenchlucre
  4. Middle Englishlūcre
  5. Englishlucre

From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans rykdom
  • rykdommoney, riches, or wealth
Bulgarian богатство
  • богатство (bogatstvo)money, riches, or wealth
Czech prachy, mamon
  • prachymoney, riches, or wealth
  • mamonmoney, riches, or wealth
  • penízemoney, riches, or wealth
Dutch gewin, profijt
  • gewinmoney, riches, or wealth
  • profijtmoney, riches, or wealth
Finnish pätäkkä
  • pätäkkämoney, riches, or wealth
French gain, profit
  • gainmoney, riches, or wealth
  • profitmoney, riches, or wealth
  • lucremoney, riches, or wealth
Scottish Gaelic prothaid
  • prothaidmoney, riches, or wealth
Spanish lucro
  • lucromoney, riches, or wealth
Welsh budrelw
  • budrelwmoney, riches, or wealth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with lucre

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

looker (foot–goose merger)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

lucre. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre

MLA

“lucre.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lucre,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre.

Source: lucre on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.