cha-ching

English

Alternative forms

• chiching, chi-ching, chaching, ca-ching
• ka-ching, kerching (primarily UK)

Etymology

Onomatopoeic, 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 Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc..

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃəˈtʃɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Interjection

cha-ching

1. Score!; wow!; said to celebrate something that has made or will make lots of money.
   • 1998, Media Foundation, chapter I, in Adbusters‎^[1], 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 (third-person singular simple present cha-chings, present participle cha-chinging, simple past and past participle cha-chinged)

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.