Meanings
nountea money (uncountable)
- MyanmarThailandregionalslanguncountableA bribe, especially for facilitating a business dealing.
Low-ranking officers in Thailand’s 200,000-strong police force are poorly paid and are infamous for topping up salaries with "tea money" for everything from minor driving offences to serious crimes.
2021 August 25, SCMP Reporter, “Death of Thai man after police extortion attempt captured on viral video, sparks public anger”, in This Week in Asia, South China Morning Post, retrieved 25 Aug 2021
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Burmeseလက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး“tea money”
- Englishtea money
Calque of Burmese လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး (lakhpak-ranyhpui:, “tea money”) likely.
More words from Burmese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 茶錢 /茶钱
- 茶錢 /茶钱 (cháqián)bribe
Swahili chai
- chaibribe
Thai ค่าน้ำร้อนน้ำชา
- ค่าน้ำร้อนน้ำชา (kâa-nám-rɔ́ɔn-nám-chaa)bribe
Cite this entry
APA
tea money. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tea%20money
MLA
“tea money.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tea%20money. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tea money,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tea%20money.
Source: tea money on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.