"lucre" meaning in English

See lucre in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈl(j)uː.kə/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈluː.kɚ/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lucre.wav [Southern-England]
Rhymes: -uːkə(ɹ) Etymology: From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*leh₂w-|*-trom}}, {{inh|en|enm|lūcre}} Middle English lūcre, {{m|enm|lucor}} lucor, {{m|enm|lucour}} lucour, {{m|enm|lucur|t=gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit}} lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), {{der|en|fro|lucre}} Old French lucre, {{der|en|la|lucrum|t=advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice}} Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), {{der|en|ine-pro|*leh₂w-|t=gain, profit}} Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”), {{m|ine-pro|*-tlom}} *-tlom, {{glossary|suffix}} suffix, {{glossary|noun}} noun, {{m|ine-pro|*-trom|pos=suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments}} *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments) Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} lucre (uncountable)
  1. Money, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner. Tags: uncountable Categories (topical): Money Synonyms: mammon Derived forms: filthy lucre Related terms: lucrative, lucratively, lucrativeness, Lucretia, Lucretius, lucriferous, lucrific Translations (money, riches, or wealth): rykdom (Afrikaans), богатство (bogatstvo) [neuter] (Bulgarian), gewin (Dutch), profijt (Dutch), pätäkkä [slang] (Finnish), gain [masculine] (French), profit [masculine] (French), lucre [masculine] (French), пе́чалба (péčalba) [feminine] (Macedonian), па́ри (pári) [feminine, plural] (Macedonian), до́бивка (dóbivka) [feminine] (Macedonian), бо́гатство (bógatstvo) [neuter] (Macedonian), prothaid [feminine] (Scottish Gaelic), lucro (Spanish), budrelw [masculine] (Welsh)

Download JSON data for lucre meaning in English (7.0kB)

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      "expansion": "Middle English lūcre",
      "name": "inh"
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      "name": "m"
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        "2": "la",
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  "etymology_text": "From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)).",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "filthy lucre"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1810 July 13, William Cobbett, “To the Reader”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume XVIII, number 1, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-Garden, and John Budd, Pall-Mall, published 14 July 1810, →OCLC, columns 13–14",
          "text": "When a man bargains for the price of maintaining such or such principles, or of endeavouring to make out such or such a case, without believing in the soundness of the principles or the truth of the case; such a man, whether he touch the cash (or paper-money) before or after the performance of his work, and whether he work with his tongue or his pen, may, I think be fairly charged with seeking after \"base lucre;\" for he, in such case, manifestly sells not only the use of his talents, but his sincerity into the bargain, and drives a traffic as nearly allied to soul-selling as any thing in this world can be; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1884 December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Body Snatcher”, in Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”, London, →OCLC; republished as “The Body-snatcher”, in The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson: The Black Arrow; The Misadventures of John Nicholson; The Body-snatcher, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895, →OCLC, page 421",
          "text": "[…] [I]t's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've had my share already.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Money, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner."
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          "wealth",
          "wealth"
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        [
          "corrupting",
          "corrupt#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "causing",
          "cause#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "greed",
          "greed"
        ],
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          "obtain",
          "obtain"
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          "underhanded",
          "underhanded"
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          "manner",
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        {
          "word": "lucrative"
        },
        {
          "word": "lucratively"
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        {
          "word": "lucrativeness"
        },
        {
          "word": "Lucretia"
        },
        {
          "word": "Lucretius"
        },
        {
          "word": "lucriferous"
        },
        {
          "word": "lucrific"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mammon"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "af",
          "lang": "Afrikaans",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "word": "rykdom"
        },
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "bogatstvo",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "богатство"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "word": "gewin"
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        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "word": "profijt"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "pätäkkä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "gain"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
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          "word": "profit"
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        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "lucre"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "péčalba",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "пе́чалба"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "pári",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "па́ри"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "dóbivka",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "до́бивка"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "bógatstvo",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "бо́гатство"
        },
        {
          "code": "gd",
          "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "prothaid"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "word": "lucro"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "budrelw"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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      "ipa": "/ˈluː.kɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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      "rhymes": "-uːkə(ɹ)"
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
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      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
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  "word": "lucre"
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{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "filthy lucre"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "name": "m"
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      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "lucur",
        "t": "gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit"
      },
      "expansion": "lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”)",
      "name": "m"
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      "args": {
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        "2": "la",
        "3": "lucrum",
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      },
      "expansion": "Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
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      "args": {
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        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*leh₂w-",
        "t": "gain, profit"
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      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”)",
      "name": "der"
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      "args": {
        "1": "ine-pro",
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      "expansion": "*-tlom",
      "name": "m"
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      "name": "glossary"
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      "expansion": "noun",
      "name": "glossary"
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      },
      "expansion": "*-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)",
      "name": "m"
    }
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  "etymology_text": "From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)).",
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      "expansion": "lucre (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "hyphenation": [
    "lu‧cre"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
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      "word": "lucrative"
    },
    {
      "word": "lucratively"
    },
    {
      "word": "lucrativeness"
    },
    {
      "word": "Lucretia"
    },
    {
      "word": "Lucretius"
    },
    {
      "word": "lucriferous"
    },
    {
      "word": "lucrific"
    }
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        "English 2-syllable words",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms derived from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old French",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *-trom",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *leh₂w-",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Rhymes:English/uːkə(ɹ)",
        "Rhymes:English/uːkə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
        "en:Money"
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          "ref": "1810 July 13, William Cobbett, “To the Reader”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume XVIII, number 1, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-Garden, and John Budd, Pall-Mall, published 14 July 1810, →OCLC, columns 13–14",
          "text": "When a man bargains for the price of maintaining such or such principles, or of endeavouring to make out such or such a case, without believing in the soundness of the principles or the truth of the case; such a man, whether he touch the cash (or paper-money) before or after the performance of his work, and whether he work with his tongue or his pen, may, I think be fairly charged with seeking after \"base lucre;\" for he, in such case, manifestly sells not only the use of his talents, but his sincerity into the bargain, and drives a traffic as nearly allied to soul-selling as any thing in this world can be; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1884 December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Body Snatcher”, in Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”, London, →OCLC; republished as “The Body-snatcher”, in The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson: The Black Arrow; The Misadventures of John Nicholson; The Body-snatcher, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895, →OCLC, page 421",
          "text": "[…] [I]t's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've had my share already.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Money, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "money"
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        [
          "riches",
          "riches"
        ],
        [
          "wealth",
          "wealth"
        ],
        [
          "corrupting",
          "corrupt#Verb"
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        [
          "causing",
          "cause#Verb"
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        [
          "greed",
          "greed"
        ],
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
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        [
          "underhanded",
          "underhanded"
        ],
        [
          "manner",
          "manner"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈl(j)uː.kə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˈluː.kɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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      "rhymes": "-uːkə(ɹ)"
    },
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "mammon"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "af",
      "lang": "Afrikaans",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "word": "rykdom"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "bogatstvo",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "богатство"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "word": "gewin"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "word": "profijt"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "pätäkkä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "gain"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "profit"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "lucre"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "péčalba",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "пе́чалба"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "pári",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "па́ри"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "dóbivka",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "до́бивка"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "bógatstvo",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "бо́гатство"
    },
    {
      "code": "gd",
      "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "prothaid"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "word": "lucro"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "money, riches, or wealth",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "budrelw"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lucre"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.