lucre

Meaning

Noun

• Money, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.

Origin

• From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur, from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum ("advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice"), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- ("gain, profit") + *-tlom (variant of *-trom).