British Slang For Rich (Helpful Content With Photos!)

The most common British slang terms for rich are loaded, minted, and wadded. These are by far the most universal and commonly used slang terms in Britain meaning rich. You might hear others, such as “flush”. But for most Brits, “minted” or “loaded” are often more than adequate.

There are only a handful of uniquely British slang terms meaning rich, then, but the terms the British do have are more than enough to describe just about any kind of richness you can imagine.

Whether discussing the wealthy in contempt or just describing your friend who had a nice windfall, one of these terms will do.

Let’s find out more.

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What do the British say for rich?

The British have a few different ways of expressing that someone is rich in slang.

Perhaps the most common term of all is “loaded”.

For someone to be loaded, it means they have a lot of money, in one degree or another.

It could be someone who has enormous wealth, a millionaire, wealthy businesspeople, celebrities, sports stars, and so on.

At the same time, it could just be relatively wadded—your friend with a very high salary might be “loaded” compared to you.

On the other hand, “minted” is another quintessentially British slang term for rich.

To be minted means you have a very large amount of money.

Again, it could mean someone who is outright wealthy by any standard. It could also just mean someone who has a lot of money compared to someone who is less well-off.

“These bankers are all so minted,” for example.

“He’s minted since he got that new job,” for example.

“Wadded” is another way the British say someone is rich and has a lot of money.

Again, the sense can be both of someone who has immense wealth and is on the world stage very rich.

But it could also just be someone who has more money than the average person, through a big salary.

Wealth itself, of course, is always a relative thing—especially in the eyes of the wealthy!

Other than these terms, which are by far the most common ways of saying that someone is very rich in British slang, you do have a handful of others.

The most common of these is “flush”, which means someone who is very rich.

This one is really not very common at all anymore, though most people in Britain will likely still understand it to a degree.

Where do all these terms come from, then?

Why do the British say loaded?

Loaded is perhaps the most common way of saying someone in Britain has a lot of money.

This word obviously has a variety of other meanings, both standard and vernacular.

The sense of being “loaded” meaning having lots of money is first attested in 1910, so it likely predates this by at least a few decades.

The sense is simply that someone who is very rich is “loaded” with money, in the same way that you might load a car or a carriage.

When you put lots of things into it, the car is loaded—you are loaded because you have so much money to haul around, figuratively speaking.

Why do the British say minted?

What about this term minted, then?

Well, as you have probably guessed, there is certainly a connection to the minting press that makes coins.

However, we don’t know for sure when this phrase started being used.

If something is minted, it means it is made into a coin.

So, for someone to be very rich, they are “minted” because they may as well have their own mint.

It is a shame that we don’t know more about the origin of this phrase, as its usage does seem to be more recent.

However, it may well be a very old term indeed, since the idea of a mint has always been a very important part of the British monarchy.

Why do the British say wadded?

Where do we get the term wadded?

Well, this one is quite literal in its figurative meaning.

That is to say, it is used in a figurative sense, but the meaning of the word itself is literal.

To say someone is “wadded” means they are very rich because they have a large “wad” of paper cash.

It’s again not entirely clear when this phrase came into use, though it must naturally have come after the adoption of paper money in Britain—so sometime after the 17^th Century.

Why do the British say flush?

Flush, finally, is another term in Britain used to describe someone who is rich.

Again, it’s not completely clear where this one comes from.

However, the most widely accepted meaning is the sense of “flush” meaning having an unbroken connection to a surface.

Someone who has lots of money is “flush” with money—it’s all over them.

Others believe it may relate to the flush hand in various card games like Texas Hold ‘Em.

Flush is one of the best hands you can get in the game, and so can lead to big winnings in the right circumstances.

There are a variety of ways you can say someone is very rich in British slang, then.

Whether you want to say someone is so wealthy that they wouldn’t know what to do with all their money, or just express how well off a friend has been doing recently, one of these terms will do the job.

More in British Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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