cha-ching

English

Etymology

Onomatopoeia, imitative of the sound of a mechanical cash register when an amount is rung up. Popularized by the 1992 movie Wayne's World and by a 1992 advertisement featuring Seth Green.
The spoken term is also, in the US, a trademarked sound of Rally's Hamburgers, Inc.

Alternative forms

• chaching
• ca-ching
• kerching (primarily UK)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃəˈtʃɪŋ/, X-SAMPA: /tS@"tSIN/

Interjection

cha-ching

1. (US, Canada, Australia) Score!; Wow!; said to celebrate something that has made or will make lots of money.
   • 1998, Media Foundation, Adbusters, Volume 6, page 49,

     Cha-ching! More profit, more jobs.

Noun

cha-ching (plural cha-chings)

1. Money, cash.
   • 2005, Lee Mylne, advertisement, Frommer′s Portable Australia′s Great Barrier Reef, page 207,

     They find the best offerings on Travelocity. For very little cha-ching.

   • 2011, Sylvie Hogg, Frommer′s Italian Islands, unnumbered page,

     […] but the majority of hotels see guests′ phone calls as a major cha-ching opportunity and charge ridiculously inflated rates.

Verb

cha-ching

1. To make a cash register or slot machine noise.
   • 2011, Catherine Coulter, Split Second, unnumbered page,

     The young guy bought the woman a refill of the same fine chardonnay that made her dad′s cash register cha-ching with pleasure.

2. To make the noise of coins falling.