wooden nickels
Fake five-cent pieces
Wooden nickels are worthless tokens, originally novelty items made of wood resembling five-cent coins.
The phrase appears almost exclusively in the warning Don't take any wooden nickels—folksy advice to be careful or avoid being cheated, typically said as a parting pleasantry rather than literal caution.
The expression is old-fashioned and primarily American.
- imitationCopy of the original
- replicaFaithful scaled reproduction
- fakeNot the real thing
- play moneyImitation money for games
- novelty itemsPlayful, humorous merchandise
counterfeit · funny money · novelties · scrip · token · facsimile · ephemera · five and dime · old timey · fractional currency · numismatics · currency · coinage · good luck charm · exchange · payment · poker chips · gaming tokens
- emergency moneyscrip, fractional currency
- alternative currencylocal currency, scrip, cryptocurrency, crypto, digital currency
- counterfeitingcounterfeit currency, counterfeit bills, counterfeit cash, fake money, fake bills
- tokenstoken, tokens, arcade tokens, arcade token, transit token
wooden nickelsreal money
legal tender · cold hard cash · gold coins · real deal · real McCoy
wooden nickelssure thing
Guaranteed outcome or agreement
good deal · safe bet · fair trade · square deal · golden opportunity
wooden, nickels, wood, nickel, woods, wooded, woodenly, woodenness, woodsy