bribe

English

Etymology

From Middle English bribe, from Old French briber (“go begging”), from the noun bribe (“a gift”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: brīb, IPA^(key): /bɹaɪb/
• Rhymes: -aɪb

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

bribe (plural bribes)

1. Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bribe

   • c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill

     Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.

   • 2024 June 17, @InternetHippo, Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 June 2024:

     The bribes I took did not influence me to become evil. I was evil from the beginning and the bribes were merely a bonus

2. 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!

Derived terms

• bribeless
• bribeproof
• bribetaker
• bribetaking

 

Translations

inducement to a breaking of the rules

• Afrikaans: omkoopgeld
• Albanian: ryshfet (sq) m, mitë (sq) f
• Arabic: رَشْوَة f (rašwa)

  Egyptian Arabic: برطيل m (barṭīl)

• Armenian: կաշառք (hy) (kašaṙkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: rüşvət (az), yeyki (dialectal)
• Bashkir: ришүәт (rişwət)
• 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 (ca) m
• Cebuano: suborno, suhol
• Chechen: кхаъ (qaʔ), хӏума (huma)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 賄賂／贿赂 (kui² lou⁶)

  Mandarin: 賄賂／贿赂 (zh) (huìlù), 行賄／行贿 (zh) (xínghuì)

• Chuvash: взятка (vzjatka)
• Czech: úplatek (cs) m
• Danish: bestikkelse c
• Dutch: steekpenning (nl) m, smeergeld (nl) n
• Eastern Mari: взятка (vzatka)
• Erzya: казневкс (kaźńevks)
• Esperanto: koruptaĵo, ŝmirmono (eo)
• 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 (ha), toshiya
• Hebrew: שׁוֹחַד m (shókhad)
• Hiligaynon: hiphip
• 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, mazzetta (it) f
• Japanese: 賄賂 (ja) (わいろ, wairo)
• Kazakh: пара (para)
• Khmer: សំណូក (km) (sɑmnouk)
• Korean: 뇌물(賂物) (ko) (noemul), 뢰물(賂物) (roemul) (North Korea), 회뢰(賄賂) (hoeroe)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەرتیل (ckb) (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), рушвет m (rušvet) (archaic)
• Maguindanao: kagakal
• Malay: rasuah (ms)
• Malayalam: കൈക്കൂലി (ml) (kaikkūli), കോഴ (ml) (kōḻa)
• Maltese: tixmiħ m
• Maori: moni whakapati, koha whakapati, utu whakapati
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хахууль (mn) (xaxuulʹ), хээл (mn) (xeel)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠬᠤᠤᠯᠢ (qaquuli), ᠬᠡᠭᠡᠯ (kegel)

• Ngazidja Comorian: ɓahashishi class 9/10
• Nogai: карын (karın)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bestikkelse m

• Oromo: gunaa
• 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, șpagă (ro) f (colloquial)
• 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, coima (es) f (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, colloquial), mordida (es) f (Mexico), alfadía (es) f, cañonazo (es) m, untada (es) f, unto (es) m, merusa f, bajín m
• Swahili: hongo (sw), rushwa (sw)
• Swedish: muta (sv) c, dusör (sv) c
• Tagalog: suhol, lagay (tl)
• Tajik: пора (tg) (pora), ришва (rišva), ришват (rišvat)
• Tamil: லஞ்சம் (ta) (lañcam)
• 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)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something against his/her original 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.

2. (transitive) To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.

   to bribe somebody's compliance

Derived terms

• bribable
• bribee
• briber
• bribery
• outbribe
• overbribe
• rebribe
• unbribed
• unbribed
• unbribing

 

Translations

to give a bribe

• Arabic: رَشَا (rašā)

  Gulf Arabic: بخشش (baḵšaš)

• Armenian: կաշառել (hy) (kašaṙel)
• Basque: erosi (eu)
• Bulgarian: подку́пвам (bg) impf (podkúpvam), подку́пя pf (podkúpja)
• Burmese: လာဘ်ပေး (labhpe:)
• Catalan: subornar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 楔空 (zh-min-nan), 楔錢／楔钱, 楔後空／楔后空, 楔後手／楔后手 (zh-min-nan)

  Mandarin: 賄賂／贿赂 (zh) (huìlù), 行賄／行贿 (zh) (xínghuì)

• Czech: uplatit pf, podplatit pf
• Danish: bestikke
• Dutch: omkopen (nl)
• Esperanto: korupti, subaĉeti
• Finnish: lahjoa (fi)
• French: verser (fr) un pot-de-vin (fr), soudoyer (fr), corrompre (fr)
• Galician: subornar (gl)
• Georgian: ქრთამის მიცემა (krtamis micema)
• German: bestechen (de), schmieren (de), kaufen (de) (colloquially)
• Greek: δωροδοκώ (el) (dorodokó)
• Hebrew: שיחד (shichéd)
• Hiligaynon: hiphip
• Hungarian: veszteget (hu), megveszteget (hu), lefizet (hu), megken (hu)
• Icelandic: múta
• Ido: subornar (io)
• Indonesian: menyuap (id), menyogok (id)
• Irish: breab a thabhairt
• Italian: offrire una tangente, corrompere (it)
• Khmer: សែន (km) (saen), បង់សាច់ (bɑngsac)
• Lao: ໃຫ້ສິນບົນ (hai sin bon)
• Latvian: kukuļot
• Lithuanian: papirkti
• Maguindanao: magakal
• Maori: whakapati
• Norman: corrompre, séduithe, graîssi la patte
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bestikke (no)

• Persian: رشوه دادن (rešve dâdan)
• Polish: dawać łapówkę impf, przekupić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: subornar (pt)
• Russian: дава́ть взя́тку impf (davátʹ vzjátku), подкупа́ть (ru) impf (podkupátʹ), подкупи́ть (ru) pf (podkupítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: митити, подмитити, поткупити, потплатити

  Roman: mítiti (sh), podmititi (sh), potkúpiti (sh), potplátiti (sh)

• Spanish: sobornar (es), cohechar (es), coimear (es) (South America), aceitar (es) (Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Cuba), untar (es), comprar (es), corromper (es)
• Swahili: -honga
• Swedish: muta (sv), besticka (sv)
• Tagalog: manuhol, maglagay (colloquial)
• Turkish: rüşvet vermek (tr)
• Ukrainian: дава́ти хаба́р impf (daváty xabár), підкупо́вувати impf (pidkupóvuvaty), підкупля́ти impf (pidkupljáty), підкупи́ти pf (pidkupýty)
• Vietnamese: đút lót (vi), đút (vi), hối lộ (vi)
• Welsh: llwgrwobrwyo (cy)
• Yiddish: שמירן (shmirn), אונטערקויפֿן (unterkoyfn)

Anagrams

• ribbe

French

Etymology

Imitative. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁib/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ib

Noun

bribe f (plural bribes)

1. (obsolete) crumb (of bread)
2. scrap, bit

Further reading

• “bribe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.