tea money

English

Etymology

Calque of Burmese လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး (lakhpak-ranyhpui:, “tea money”) likely.

Noun

tea money (uncountable)

1. (slang, regional, Myanmar, Thailand) A bribe, especially for facilitating a business dealing.
   • 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^[1], South China Morning Post, retrieved 2021-08-25:

     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.

Translations

bribe

• Burmese: လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး (my) (lakhpak-ranyhpui:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 茶錢 / 茶钱 (zh) (cháqián)

• Swahili: chai (sw)
• Thai: ค่าน้ำร้อนน้ำชา (th) (kâa-nám-rɔ́ɔn-nám-chaa)

See also

• coffee money