Why a Dollar Is Called a Buck
A buck is a male deer. The American slang for a dollar comes from trading in deerskins.
A buck is a male deer, goat or rabbit, and in American slang a dollar. The money sense comes from frontier trade, where a buckskin was a standard unit of barter — an eighteenth-century journal records a cask of whisky priced at five bucks. The skin became the coin. *Pass the buck* is separate, from poker: a marker called a buck showed whose turn it was to deal, and passing it passed the responsibility, which is what Truman's desk sign meant.
- A male deer. *A young buck.*
- A dollar (US). *Twenty bucks.*
- To jump (of a horse). *The horse bucked.*
- Pass the buck — shift responsibility. *Pass the buck.*
- Old English — *bucca*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | buck | A buck. |
| Plural | bucks | Bucks. |
| Verb | buck | Bucking. |
| Compound | buckskin | Buckskin. |
| Old English | bucca | A male goat. |
- A buck stood at the treeline.Deer.
- It cost twenty bucks.Money.
- The buck stops here.Idiom.
Buck idioms
- Pass the buck — from a poker dealer's marker
- The buck stops here — Truman's answer to that phrase
- Buck the trend — go against the prevailing direction
- Buck up — cheer up, or hurry
- Bang for your buck — value for money
Old English *bucca*, a male goat, and *buc*, a male deer. The dollar sense is from *buckskin*, a frontier unit of trade.
Why is a dollar called a buck?
From buckskin, which served as a standard unit of barter on the American frontier before coinage was common.
Where does pass the buck come from?
From poker, where a marker called a buck showed whose turn it was to deal. Passing it passed the duty on.