wonga

W4O1N1G2A1
/ˈwɒŋɡə/

noun

Money.

“A whole wodge of wonga.”

UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

wonga1

nounwonga (uncountable)
  1. LondonNew ZealandslanguncountableMoney.

    A whole wodge of wonga.

    2 more examples

    I don't mean to be difficult, I said to the madame in reception, but I'm paying a lot of wonga, so these women of yours should be able to manage a bit of service, shouldn't they, I said, and then I was given a voucher.

    2009, K. O. Dahl, The Fourth Man: A Thriller, Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 59

    “Well, to fix this house, we need money, correct? Does anyone know if we have any money? Anyone?” “Uh...” “Cash.” “Coin.” “Moola.” “Gold.” “Wonga.” “Rubles.” “Milk.” “Lettuce.” “Bread.” “Dough.” “Sweet cream.” “Stripper tips.” “Anyone?” “Colin Robinson was in charge of paying all the bills in the house, and now Colin Robinson is dead.”

    2022 July 12, Stefani Robinson & Paul Simms, “Reunited” (16:24 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 1, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou)

    Synonyms: ackers, bees and honey, blunt, bones, brass, bread, bread and honey, Bugs Bunny

Wonga2

proper noun
  1. A locality in South Gippsland Shire, south eastern Victoria, Australia.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óngʷl̥
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranian*Hángāras
  3. Sanskritअङ्गार“charcoal, coal”
  4. Romaniangar“coal”
  5. Angloromani[Term?]
  6. Englishwonga

Borrowed from Angloromani [Term?], from Romani angar (“coal”), from Sanskrit अङ्गार (áṅgāra, “charcoal, coal”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hángāras, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óngʷl̥. The English term coal was itself used as a slang term for money in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with wonga

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

wonga. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonga

MLA

“wonga.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonga. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wonga,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonga.

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