wonga

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɒŋɡə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋɡə

Noun

wonga (uncountable)

1. (slang, chiefly London, New Zealand) Money.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:money

   A whole wodge of wonga.

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

     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.

   • 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):

     “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.”

Derived terms

• Wonga Park

See also

• wonga pigeon
• wonga-wonga

Further reading

• “wonga”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• wagon, Gowan, Wagon, gowan, Wogan, wango