fakelaki

English

Etymology

From Greek φακελάκι (fakeláki, “little envelope”).

Noun

fakelaki (plural fakelakia)

1. An envelope containing cash, offered as a bribe in Greece.
   • 2011, John Lanchester, Once Greece goes…:

     Various forms of corruption permeated the system, where cash gifts in fakelaki or ‘little envelopes’ were a fact of life, and where, crucially, the rich regarded paying tax as something that only the poor and stupid would ever choose to do.

   • 2013, Michael G. Pento, The Coming Bond Market Collapse:

     But Greek tax officials are rumored to be notoriously easy to bribe with a fakelaki (small envelope) of cash.

   • 2018, Panos Minogiannis, European Integration and Health Policy:

     Specific cases have been rumored to demand up to $4,000 as a fakelaki.

Alternative forms

• fakellaki