Word.ws English Dictionary

if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Syllables: if you pay pea·nuts, you get monk·eysUK/ɪf ˌjuː peɪ ˈpiːnʌts ˌjuː ɡɛt ˈmʌŋkiːz//ɪf ˌju peɪ ˈpiˌnʌts ˌjuː ɡɛt ˈmʌŋkiz/

if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys proverb: offering a low payment or salary will not attract skilled workers or employees.

Proverb

if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

  1. (UK, informal) Offering a low payment or salary will not attract skilled workers or employees.

Synonyms of if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Origin of if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

A reference to peanuts (“especially of a salary: a very small or insufficient amount”) (originally US slang dating to the mid 20th century) and monkey (“a person of minimal intelligence, idiot”), with a humorous allusion to the fact that monkeys are fond of nuts.

Questions about if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

What does if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys mean?
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys means offering a low payment or salary will not attract skilled workers or employees.
What part of speech is if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys?
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys is a proverb.
How do you pronounce if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys?
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys is pronounced /ɪf ˌjuː peɪ ˈpiːnʌts ˌjuː ɡɛt ˈmʌŋkiːz/ (UK).

Words near if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys in the dictionary

  1. if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas
  2. if you lie with dogs you will get fleas
  3. if you like
  4. if you mess with the bull, you get the horns
  5. if you pay bananas, you get monkeys
  6. if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
  7. if you please
  8. if you say so
  9. if you see something, say something
  10. if you see what I mean
  11. if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.oga.

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