бабки (babki)

What it means

1. 1.

   Cash, dosh. The most established money slang in Russian, plural only, and neutral enough that it turns up in business conversations that are otherwise entirely proper.

2. 2.

   Slightly heavier and older-sounding than бабло, which younger speakers prefer.

Literally: old women; knucklebones

Examples with translations

• Бабки вперёд, потом работа.

  Cash up front, then the work.

• Он на этом неплохие бабки поднял.

  He made decent money out of it.

Where it comes from

From бабки, the sheep knucklebones used as counters and stakes in a traditional children's game — the same route by which English 'bones' and 'chips' became money. The reading 'grandmothers' is a coincidence of homonymy.

Other forms

Romanised as:

babki