Meaning & use
petty cash
Last updated
UK/ˌpeti ˈkæʃ/
US/ˌpeti ˈkæʃ/
Meaning
noununcountablebusiness
A small amount of money kept in an office for minor everyday expenses, such as stamps, snacks or taxi fares.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a': we paid for it out of petty cash.
Patterns
- pay for something out of petty cash
- take money from petty cash
She paid for the coffee filters out of petty cash.
The office manager keeps the petty cash in a locked drawer.
Every withdrawal from petty cash needs a receipt.
Common combinations
- petty cash box
- The petty cash box was empty by Friday.
- petty cash fund
- The company keeps a petty cash fund of two hundred dollars.
- out of petty cash
- Postage is paid out of petty cash.
- petty cash voucher
- Fill in a petty cash voucher before taking money.
- petty cash account
- The accountant balanced the petty cash account at month end.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pocket money
- Refers to money given to a child or kept for personal spending, not money belonging to a business.
- float
- British word for a small sum of change kept ready, often at a till; petty cash is for small expenses.
- small change
- Means coins or a trivial amount, while petty cash is an organized fund with records.
Word family
Commonly confused: petty cash or petty theft?
petty cash vs petty theft
Petty theft is the stealing of low-value items; it is a crime term and unrelated to the money fund.
Practice
The receptionist bought stamps for the office ___.
Choose one answer.
'Out of petty cash' is the normal phrase. 'Petty cash' is uncountable, so a plural form is wrong.
Make it your own
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