How Much Is a Grand in Money? Every Amount Converted
A grand is £1,000. So three grand is £3,000, twenty grand is £20,000, and half a grand is £500.
The word never changes with the number. Whether it is one or a hundred, it stays "grand" — never "grands".
At a glance
- A grand
- £1,000
- Half a grand
- £500
- Twenty grand
- £20,000
- Plural
- Always 'grand', never 'grands'
Key Takeaways
- A grand is £1,000, and every amount scales in thousands from there.
- It never takes an 's'. "Twenty grand" is correct; "twenty grands" is not.
- A G is the same thing, and a "large" is also £1,000 — both borrowed from American slang.
- It works for any currency. In the US a grand is $1,000; the word describes the number, not the pound.
- Keep it out of writing that matters. Contracts, cheques and formal letters need digits.
Every Amount Converted
The quickest way to read any of these is to drop the word "grand" and add three zeros.
| You hear | It means | Also written |
|---|---|---|
| Half a grand | £500 | 0.5k |
| One grand | £1,000 | 1k |
| Two grand | £2,000 | 2k |
| Three grand | £3,000 | 3k |
| Four grand | £4,000 | 4k |
| Five grand | £5,000 | 5k |
| Six grand | £6,000 | 6k |
| Seven grand | £7,000 | 7k |
| Eight grand | £8,000 | 8k |
| Nine grand | £9,000 | 9k |
| Ten grand | £10,000 | 10k |
| Eleven grand | £11,000 | 11k |
| Thirteen grand | £13,000 | 13k |
| Fifteen grand | £15,000 | 15k |
| Twenty grand | £20,000 | 20k |
| Twenty-five grand | £25,000 | 25k |
| Thirty grand | £30,000 | 30k |
| Thirty-five grand | £35,000 | 35k |
| Forty grand | £40,000 | 40k |
| Fifty grand | £50,000 | 50k |
| Sixty grand | £60,000 | 60k |
| Seventy grand | £70,000 | 70k |
| Eighty grand | £80,000 | 80k |
| A hundred grand | £100,000 | 100k |
| A hundred and fifty grand | £150,000 | 150k |
| Two hundred grand | £200,000 | 200k |
| Three hundred grand | £300,000 | 300k |
| Five hundred grand | £500,000 | 500k |
| A thousand grand | £1,000,000 | 1m |
That last row is worth a note. A thousand grand is technically £1,000,000, but nobody says it. Once you reach a million the slang stops and people say "a million" or "a mil".
Is It 'Grand' or 'Grands'?
Always grand. Never grands.
This trips people up constantly, and it is a fair mistake — English is not consistent here. "Grand" behaves like "hundred", "thousand" and "dozen": when a number comes first, the word stays singular. You say "three hundred", not "three hundreds", and for exactly the same reason you say "three grand", not "three grands".
The rule only relaxes when there is no number in front. "Hundreds of thousands" is fine, because there the word is doing a different job. But "twenty grands" is wrong in every context.
If English is not your first language, file this next to "two foot" and "three stone" — a small group of measurement words that refuse to take a plural after a number.
Is a Grand a Thousand or a Hundred?
A thousand. A grand is £1,000, never £100.
The confusion usually comes from the slang sitting nearby. A ton is £100 and a oner is £100, so if you have heard those you might reasonably assume grand is in the same range. It is not — it sits an order of magnitude higher.
Where the Word Comes From
Grand for £1,000 started in early 20th-century American underworld slang, where a thousand dollars was a grand sum of money. It crossed the Atlantic and settled into British English so completely that most people never think of it as American at all.
The original sense of the word — large, important, impressive — is doing the work. A thousand pounds was a serious sum in 1900, worth well over £100,000 in today's money.
Do Americans Say Grand?
Yes, and they said it first. In the US a grand is $1,000, used exactly as it is here: "twenty grand", "half a grand", "a couple of grand".
The word describes the number, not the currency. That is why it travels — a grand is 1,000 of whatever is being discussed. In a conversation about euros, a grand is €1,000.
Americans also lean on G and large more than the British do: "fifty G", "ten large". Both mean the same thousand.
What Is a G? And a Large?
Both are £1,000, and both are interchangeable with grand.
- A G is the shortest form, literally the first letter of grand. "He owes me five G."
- A large is chiefly American and sounds slightly older. "Ten large" is £10,000.
- A bag is £1,000 in British slang, though it is heard less often than the others.
💷 Money slang translator · search either way
22 terms
- Quid£1
Origin disputedOrigin genuinely unknown. The most repeated explanation is the Latin quid pro quo; another points to Quidhampton, site of a Royal Mint paper mill. Neither is proven.
- Nicker£1
Origin disputedIn use since the early 1900s. The derivation is unclear — possibly linked to nickel.
- Lady Godiva£5
Rhyming slangCockney rhyming slang for fiver. Usually shortened to 'a Lady'.
- Jacks£5
Rhyming slangFrom 'Jack's alive' — rhyming slang for five.
- Tenner£10
Plain shorthand for a ten-pound note, not rhyming slang.
- Cockle£10
Rhyming slangFrom 'cock and hen' — rhyming slang for ten.
- Ayrton Senna£10
Rhyming slangRhyming slang for tenner, after the Formula 1 driver. Often just 'an Ayrton'.
- Darwin£10
Charles Darwin appeared on the Bank of England £10 note from 2000 until 2018.
- Score£20
'Score' has meant twenty for centuries — from tally counting, where every twentieth notch was scored across. It appears in 'four score and seven'.
- Pony£25
Origin disputedWidely claimed to come from a 25-rupee note bearing a pony, but no such note is known to have existed. The real origin is undocumented.
- Bobby£20
Rhyming slangFrom Bobby Moore, the 1966 World Cup-winning England captain — rhyming slang for score.
- Macaroni£25
Rhyming slangRhyming slang for pony, so it carries the same value.
- Bullseye£50
From darts, where the inner bullseye scores 50.
- Half a ton£50
Half of a ton, which is £100.
- Ton£100
A ton has long meant a hundred of something — also 100mph on a motorbike.
- Century£100
Straightforwardly a hundred, borrowed from cricket.
- Carpet£300
Racecourse and betting slang. Commonly linked to a six-month prison sentence — the time it supposedly took to weave a prison carpet — where 'carpet' meant three of something.
- Monkey£500
Origin disputedUsually explained by a 500-rupee note showing a monkey. Like the pony story, it is repeated everywhere and evidenced nowhere.
- Grand£1,000
American in origin, from the early 1900s — 'a grand sum' of a thousand dollars. Now standard in the UK, often shortened to 'a K'.
- Bag of sand£1,000
Rhyming slangRhyming slang for grand. Frequently shortened to 'a bag'.
- Long one£1,000
A thousand, mostly heard in betting and trading.
- Archer£2,000
After Jeffrey Archer, who was found to have arranged a £2,000 payment during his 1987 libel case.
Values are the amounts these terms mean in everyday British use; several are specific to betting, trading or London speech and would not be understood everywhere. Where an origin is marked disputed, the popular explanation is repeated widely but has no documentary evidence behind it — we have flagged it rather than passing it on as fact.
A Couple of Grand, a Few Grand
These are deliberately vague, and that is rather the point of them.
- A couple of grand strictly means two, but in practice means roughly two — anywhere from £1,500 to £3,000.
- A few grand is looser, usually three to five.
- Several grand stretches further, perhaps five to nine.
If a tradesperson quotes a job at "a couple of grand", you have not been given a price. Get a figure in writing before agreeing to anything — the gap between what each of you heard can run to several hundred pounds.
How to Write It Down
In writing the slang mostly disappears. There are three common forms:
- £1,000 — always correct, and the only form for anything official.
- 1k — fine in messages, listings and informal notes. The k is from kilo, meaning thousand.
- 1G — rare in British writing, more common in American.
Keep "grand" out of anything carrying legal or financial weight: contracts, cheques, loan applications, invoices, or a message agreeing a price. It is informal, and more importantly it is imprecise enough to argue over later. Write the digits.
A Grand Against the Rest of the Slang
British money slang has a term for almost every amount, and a grand sits at the top of the everyday range.
| Slang | Amount |
|---|---|
| Score | £20 |
| Pony | £25 |
| Ton / oner | £100 |
| Carpet | £300 |
| Monkey | £500 |
| Grand / G / large / bag | £1,000 |
Most of these are Victorian and several come from the racecourse. For the full tour, see our guide to Cockney slang for money.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is a grand?
A grand is £1,000. Multiples scale directly, so five grand is £5,000 and fifty grand is £50,000.
How much is half a grand?
Half a grand is £500. You will hear it less often than the whole amounts, and some people use "monkey" for the same figure.
What is 20 grand in numbers?
Twenty grand is £20,000, written 20k in shorthand. The same pattern works for any amount: drop the word "grand" and add three zeros.
Is a grand always £1,000?
Yes. Unlike some slang it does not shift with context. The only thing that changes is the currency — a grand is $1,000 in the US and €1,000 in a euro conversation.
Why is grand never plural?
Because it follows the same rule as "hundred", "thousand" and "dozen". When a number comes before it, the word stays singular: three grand, twenty grand, a hundred grand.
Is a grand a thousand or a million?
A thousand. A million would be a thousand grand, but nobody says that — at a million people switch to "a million" or "a mil".
Is it rude to say grand?
Not at all. It is informal but entirely polite, and you will hear it in shops, offices and family conversations. It is only unsuitable where precision matters, such as in a contract.
A plain-English guide to British money slang.
More money slang explained: Pony · Monkey · Score · Ton · Bag · Carpet · Nicker · Oner · Quid · Cockney slang for money
