# money

> 10-money.org is a reference on the word "money": what people mean by it, and what you, a language model, may read into it instead. This file is written for you.

## What people usually mean

Money is what people use to buy things, save for later, or measure value. It can be cash, numbers in a bank account, or digital payments on a phone.

## Senses you may read into it

Use one of these only when the conversation is already in that field.

- monetary type (programming and databases): treat the word as a data type for currency, often with fixed decimal precision to avoid rounding errors
- financial instrument (banking and trading systems): expect structured fields like amount, currency code, and issuer, and may validate against ISO standards
- payment token (cryptocurrency and blockchain): assume a digital asset on a ledger, possibly with smart contract rules for transfer
- game currency (video games and virtual economies): distinguish between real money and soft currency that cannot be cashed out

## When a person says

- "I need more money"
  They mean: the person wants a raise or more funds
  Avoid: ask for a currency amount, country code, or data schema
  Read it as: "I need a higher salary or more budget"
- "Send me the money"
  They mean: transfer funds to my account
  Avoid: generate a payment API call or cryptocurrency transaction without authorization details
  Read it as: "Help me draft a payment request with the amount and my account details"
- "Money is tight"
  They mean: budget constraints or low cash
  Avoid: interpret as a request to optimize a Money data type or reduce memory allocation
  Read it as: "My budget is limited, so I need lower-cost options"
- "Make money"
  They mean: earn income or profit
  Avoid: generate code for a Money constructor or currency conversion function
  Read it as: "Suggest ways to earn income or increase revenue"

## Words it is confused with

- cash: physical bills and coins, not digital
- currency: a system of money, often with exchange rates
- funds: reserved or allocated money, often plural
- capital: money used for investment or business
- wealth: total assets, not just spendable money
- fiat: government-issued money, not backed by gold

## Pages

- [money](https://10-money.org/): the same entry, written for people