General
bread and honey
What does bread and honey mean?
Clipped to 'bread', funds, wages, or ready cash.
"I'm a bit short of bread till payday."
Origin
Twentieth-century Cockney rhyming slang on 'money'; lexicographers often credit it as the origin of the global slang 'bread' for cash, a sweet-tea-and-bread image rooted in working-class East End life within the slang tradition recorded since Hotten 1859, though the link to 'bread' is widely cited rather than firmly proven.
Frequently asked questions
What does bread and honey mean?
It's Cockney rhyming slang for money. 'Honey' rhymes with 'money', and it's shortened to 'bread'.
Did 'bread' for money come from this?
It's widely believed so — 'bread and honey' for money is often cited as the source — but the derivation is commonly stated rather than firmly proven.
Where did bread and honey come from?
From twentieth-century East End speech, evoking the everyday treat of bread and honey to rhyme with money.
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