fast buck

American  

noun

Slang.

1. money made easily or quickly and sometimes unscrupulously.

   He speculated briefly in the commodities market in the hope of making a fast buck.

---

fast buck Idioms  

1. Money made quickly and easily and, often, dishonestly. For example, He's all right, but his partner is just out for a fast buck. This expression gave rise to fast-buck artist for an individual, especially a swindler, intent on making money quickly. [Slang; mid-1900s] Also see easy money.

---

Other Word Forms

• fast-buck
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of fast buck

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50

Example Sentences

Hakim -- not his real name -- travelled south from the Paris region at the end of 2020 when he was 15 thinking to make a fast buck, but things quickly went wrong.

From Barron's • Dec. 17, 2025

That responsibility requires doing what’s right long-term, not just what might make a fast buck.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 14, 2022

The new breed of retail investor has acquired the image of a flighty, speculative day trader just looking to make a fast buck, especially in the riskier, frothier parts of financial markets such as crypto.

From Reuters • Aug. 19, 2022

Brooklyn has been ruined as a place worth living so developers can make a fast buck.

From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2017

This will be a fast buck, I thought.

From "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key" by Jack Gantos