How Much Is a Grand in Money?

A 'grand' means £1,000 in British slang. So "five grand" is £5,000 and "half a grand" is £500.

It is one of the most common money words in everyday British English, used just as freely as the pound figure itself.

At a glance

Key Takeaways

A grand is £1,000, so the amount always moves in thousands.
The word stays singular in casual speech: people say "ten grand", not "ten grands".
It is informal, so you will hear it in conversation far more than in formal writing.
The term likely comes from "grand" meaning large or important, as in a "grand sum".

The word is thought to have started in early 20th-century American slang, then crossed into British use.

"Grand" simply meant large or impressive, and £1,000 was a grand sum of money at the time. The number stuck to the word.

Today it is fully at home in British English and rarely needs explaining.

You will hear it most often with car prices, salaries, house deposits, and rough estimates.

For example: "The car was about eight grand" or "She earns forty grand a year." The word replaces the digits without changing the meaning.

Note that "grand" stays singular even when plural. "Twenty grand" is correct, "twenty grands" is not.

British slang has a word for almost every amount. A ton is £100 and a monkey is £500.

A grand sits above most of them, covering the £1,000 mark. For a wider tour of these terms, see our guide to Cockney slang for money.

Yes. In UK usage a grand is £1,000, and multiples scale from there, so "three grand" is £3,000.

Yes, the word works for any currency by context. "A grand" could mean 1,000 dollars or euros if that is what is being discussed.

Not at all. It is informal but perfectly polite, and you will hear it in shops, offices, and family conversations alike.

It behaves like "hundred" and "thousand" in counting phrases, which do not take an "s" after a number.

A light guide to British money slang.