bribe

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French briber (“go begging”).

PronunciationEdit

enPR: brīb, IPA^(key): /bɹaɪb/
Rhymes: -aɪb
Audio (US)
(file)

NounEdit

bribe (plural bribes)

Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to dishonesty.
- c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill
  Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.
That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
- 1744, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination
  Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.
- 1974, George Fox, Mario Puzo, Earthquake
  Remy, this was a bribe! Our whole marriage has been nothing but a series of bribes!

SynonymsEdit

See Thesaurus:bribe

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

inducement to dishonesty

Afrikaans: omkoopgeld
Albanian: ryshfet (sq) m, mitë (sq) f
Arabic: رَشْوَة‎ f (rašwa)
Egyptian Arabic: برطيل‎ m (barṭīl)
Armenian: կաշառք (hy) (kašaṙkʿ)
Azerbaijani: rüşvət (az)
Bashkir: ришүәт (rišüät)
Belarusian: ха́бар m (xábar), по́дкуп m (pódkup)
Bengali: ঘুষ (ghuś)
Bulgarian: по́дкуп (bg) m (pódkup), рушве́т (bg) m (rušvét)
Burmese: လာဘ် (my) (labh)
Catalan: suborn m
Chechen: кхаъ (qaʾ), хӏума (huma)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 賄賂 (zh), 贿赂 (zh) (huìlù), 行賄 (zh), 行贿 (zh) (xínghuì)
Chuvash: взятка (vzjatka)
Czech: úplatek (cs) m
Danish: bestikkelse
Dutch: steekpenning (nl), smeergeld (nl) n
Eastern Mari: взятка (vzâtka)
Erzya: взятка (vzjatka)
Esperanto: koruptaĵo
Estonian: pistis, altkäemaks
Finnish: lahjus (fi)
French: pot-de-vin (fr) m
Galician: suborno m, aliciamento m, baixamau f, engado m, comechura f
Georgian: ქრთამი (krtami)
German: Bestechungsgeld (de) n, Schmiergeld (de) n
Greek: δωροδοκία (el) f (dorodokía) (giving), δωροληψία (el) f (dorolipsía) (taking)
Hausa: hanci, toshiya
Hebrew: שׁוֹחַד‎ m (shokhad)
Hindi: रिश्वत (hi) f (riśvat), घूस (hi) f (ghūs)
Hungarian: megvesztegetés (hu), csúszópénz (hu), vesztegetés (hu), kenőpénz (hu)
Icelandic: múta f
Ido: suborno (io)
Indonesian: suap (id), sogokan (id)
Italian: tangente (it) f, bustarella (it) f
Japanese: 賄賂 (ja) (わいろ, wairo)
Kazakh: пара (para)
Khmer: សំណូក (km) (sɑmnook)
Korean: 뇌물 (ko) (noemul)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بەرتیل‎ (ku) (bertîl)

Northern Kurdish: bertîl (ku), rişwet (ku)
Kyrgyz: пара (ky) (para)
Lao: ສິນບົນ (sin bon)
Latvian: kukulis m

Lezgi: ришвет (rišvet)
Lithuanian: kyšis m
Macedonian: поткуп m (potkup), мито n (mito)
Malay: rasuah (ms)
Malayalam: കൈക്കൂലി (ml) (kaikkūli)
Maltese: tixmiħ m
Maori: moni whakapati, koha whakapati, utu whakapati
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хахууль (mn) (khakhuuli), хээл (mn) (kheel)

Uyghurjin: ᠬᠠᠬᠤᠤᠯᠢ (qaquuli), ᠬᠡᠭᠡᠯ (kegel)
Ngazidja Comorian: ɓahashishi 9 or 10
Nogai: карын (karın)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bestikkelse
Ossetian: гӕртам (gærtam)
Pashto: بډې‎ (ps) f pl (báḍe)
Persian: رشوه‎ (fa) (rešve), بدکند‎ (fa) (bad-kand)
Polish: łapówka (pl) f
Portuguese: suborno (pt) m, propina (pt) f
Romanian: mită (ro) f
Russian: взя́тка (ru) f (vzjátka), по́дкуп (ru) m (pódkup), мзда (ru) f (mzda)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ми́то n

Roman: míto (sh) n
Sinhalese: අල්ලස් (allas)
Slovak: úplatok m
Slovene: podkupnina f
Southern Altai: карын (karïn)
Spanish: soborno (es) m, (colloquial) coima (es) f (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), matraca (es) f (Venezuela), mordida (es) f (Mexico), cohecho (es), alfadía f
Swahili: hongo (sw)
Swedish: muta (sv) c, dusör (sv)
Tagalog: suhol, lagay (tl)
Tajik: пора (tg) (pora), ришва (rišva), ришват (rišvat)
Tatar: ришвәт (tt) (rişwät)
Telugu: లంచము (te) (lañcamu)
Thai: สินบน (th) (sǐn-bon), ส่วย (th) (sùai)
Tibetan: རྒྱུ་རྔན (rgyu rngan), སྐྱབས་རྟེན (skyabs rten)
Turkish: rüşvet (tr)
Turkmen: para, berim (tk)
Tuvan: хээли (xeeli)
Ukrainian: хаба́р m (xabár), пі́дкуп m (pídkup)
Urdu: رشوت‎ f (riśvat), گھوس‎ f (ghūs)
Uyghur: پارا‎ (para)
Uzbek: pora (uz), rishva, rishvat (uz)
Vietnamese: hối lộ (vi)
Welsh: llwgrwobr (cy) m
Yakut: бэрик (berik)
Yiddish: שמיר‎ m (shmir)

VerbEdit

bribe (third-person singular simple present bribes, present participle bribing, simple past and past participle bribed)

(transitive) To give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something, usually against his/her will, in exchange for some type of reward or relief from potential trouble.
She was accused of trying to bribe the jury into making false statements.
- October 23, 1848, Frederick William Robertson, an address delivered at the Opening of The Working Men's Institute
  Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.
(transitive) To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.
to bribe somebody's compliance