Why is a pound called a quid in slang?

Answer 1

I also don't know.....when i heard 1st time.......i wondered whats that

Answer 2

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RE:
Why is a pound called a quid in slang?

Answer 3

Quid was old slang for a Sovereign coin which is now the equivalent of a pound in modern money

Answer 4

Brewster's suggests it comes from 'quid pro quo', an equivalent amount for something, and also suggests that it originally referred to a sovereign.

Answer 5

i always wondered this, too. British currency is based on the pound, for people who don't know. But brits commonly call it a "quid".

Answer 6

quid - one pound (£1) or a number of pounds sterling - plural uses singular form, eg., 'Fifteen quid is all I want for it..', or 'I won five hundred quid on the horses yesterday..'. The slang money expression 'quid' seems first to have appeared in late 1600's England, when it originally meant a guinea (and according to Brewer's 1870 dictionary, a sovereign) and later transferred to mean a pound in the 1700's. In older times the plural form of quids was also used, although nowadays only very young children would mistakenly use the word 'quids'. Usage is now generally confined to 'quid' regardless of quantity, although the plural survives in the expression 'quids in', meaning 'in profit', used particularly when expressing surprise at having benefited from an unexpectedly good financial outcome, for example enjoying night out at the local pub and winning more than the cost of the evening in a raffle. Traditional reference sources of word and slang origins (Partridge, OED, Brewer, Shadwell, Cassells, etc) suggest that the slang 'quid' for pound is probably derived from the Latin 'quid', meaning 'what', particularly in the expression 'quid pro quo', meaning to exchange something for something else (loosely 'what for which'), and rather like the use of the word 'wherewithal', to mean money. However a more interesting origin (thanks for prompt, KG) is that the 'quid' might well derive, additionally or even alternately, from the now closed-down Quidhampton paper mill, at Quidhampton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, South-West England, which apparently many years ago manufactured the special paper for the production of banknotes. Indeed the use of the 'quid' slang word for money seems to have begun (many sources suggest the late 1600's) around the time that banknotes first appeared in England (The Bank of England issued its first banknotes in 1694). The secrecy and security surrounding banknote paper production might explain on one hand why such an obvious possible derivation has been overlooked by all the main etymological reference sources, but on the other hand it rather begs the question as to how such a little-known secret fact could have prompted the widespread adoption of the slang in the first place. It has been suggested to me separately (ack D Murray) that quid might instead, or additionally, be derived from a centuries-old meaning of quid, referring to a quantity of tobacco for chewing in the mouth at any one time, and also the verb meaning to chew tobacco. According to the website fromoldbooks.org the Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue (Francis Groce, 1811) includes the quid definition as follows: "quid - The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea. The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; [meaning] the gentleman gave fifty pounds for the horse."

Answer 7

Maybe "quid' as in "quid pro quo" - something exchanged for something else.

Answer 8

Dinky is talking about U.K currency. the slang term for "pound" is "quid". don't know why they started calling it that, or where it came from.

Answer 9

Probably to confuse visitors.

Answer 10

because us brits are british enough to think of it