quid

Quid is British slang for a pound sterling, the UK’s currency. Twenty quid is twenty pounds. The plural is still quid, not “quids.”

What quid means

Merriam-Webster defines it as a pound sterling, and Dictionary.com notes the plural is the same word: one quid, fifty quid. It’s as common in Britain as “bucks” is in the US, and just as casual. You’d say “it cost me forty quid” to a friend but probably not in a job interview.

Phrases with quid

• Quids in: in a good position, usually because you’ve made or saved money. Collins defines it as being in a very favorable or advantageous position.
• A quick quid: easy money, often slightly dodgy.
• Not the full quid: in Australian and New Zealand slang, not very bright.

Examples

• “Can you lend me a tenner? I’ll pay you back the ten quid Friday.”
• “Tickets were sixty quid each.”
• “If the refund comes through, we’re quids in.”

Where it came from

It’s old, and nobody knows for sure. Merriam-Webster says origin unknown and gives a first known use of 1661; Dictionary.com dates it to the 1680s and says origin uncertain. One popular idea links it to the Latin “quid,” meaning “what” or “that which is,” as in “quid pro quo,” but that has never been proven.

Don’t confuse it with the other “quid”: a wad of chewing tobacco, which comes from the same root as “cud.”

Related terms

• Skint: having no quid at all.
• Bare: a lot of, as in “bare money.”
• Dodgy: suspicious, like a quick quid.

See more terms like this in our British slang guide.