Definition

Noun: 1. A sealed envelope or container holding an employee's wages in cash: This term traditionally refers to the physical packet, typically an envelope, containing the cash amount of a worker's wages for a specific pay period, ready for hand-to-hand distribution. 2. The amount of money earned as wages; one's salary: By extension, "pay packet" is commonly used to refer to the total sum of money one earns from their job, regardless of the method of payment (e.g., cash, bank transfer).

Usage Examples

• Referring to the physical envelope:
  • On Friday afternoon, the manager handed each worker their pay packet.
  • Before direct deposit was common, employees would line up to collect their pay packets from the accounts office.
• Referring to the amount of salary:
  • He was delighted with the bonus in this month's pay packet.
  • The rising cost of living means my pay packet doesn't stretch as far as it used to.

Advanced Usage

• "A thin/fat pay packet": An idiomatic way to describe a small or large amount of wages.
  • After the tax increase, everyone was left with a much thinner pay packet.
  • The new sales commission should result in a fatter pay packet next month.

Variants and Related Words

• Paycheck (noun, chiefly US): The check received as wages from an employer. It is functionally equivalent to "pay packet" in referring to both the physical item and the amount earned.
• Wages (noun): Money paid, especially at a regular rate, for labor or services.
• Salary (noun): A fixed regular payment, typically paid monthly but often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.

Synonyms

• Earnings
• Remuneration
• Take-home pay

Related Idioms

• "To be in/out of the packet": Informal British English meaning to be paid or not yet paid.
  • I can't go out until I'm in the packet. (I can't go out until I've been paid.)
• "The contents of the pay packet": Emphasizes the actual monetary value of the wages.
  • The union is negotiating to improve the contents of the pay packet for all staff.

Noun

1. wages enclosed in an envelope for distribution to the wage earner