kickback
noun

- a return of a part of a sum received often because of a confidential agreement or coercion.

- a sum of money that is paid to someone illegally — for example, money which a company pays someone to arrange for that company to be chosen to do an important job.

- a covert, often illegal, payment made in return for a favour — specifically a quid pro quo in which an insider secretly helps an outsider win a contract, then receives a secret portion of the contract value; a form of bribe.

Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary

—
WORD ORIGIN

Kickbacks is an American coinage, first recorded in print around 1930–32, and was formed simply by converting the two-word verb phrase "to kick back" into a single noun.

The underlying verb "to kick" is old and somewhat mysterious. It dates to the late 14th century and probably came from Old Norse kikna ("to bend backwards, give way at the knees"). The "back" element goes back to Old English on bæc — meaning to return to a prior position.

Mechanically, "kick back" already had a vivid physical meaning: the recoil of a gun after firing, or the dangerous backward lurch of a circular saw striking something it couldn't cut. Both images carry the same idea — a force returning along the same path it came from.

The leap to corruption is telling. The money in a kickback scheme travels exactly like that recoil: a contract is awarded, money flows out to the contractor, and then a portion kicks back to whoever made the award possible.

The financial/corruption sense was firmly established in American English by the 1940s, gained wide recognition during the Watergate era of the 1970s, and is now standard in legal, journalistic, and business vocabulary worldwide.

Helga & Paul Smith

—
MR TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT

In Indonesia, President Suharto (1921-2008) was publicly known as “Mr Twenty-Five Percent” because all major contracts were only approved if 25 percent of the income were paid to him personally. According to Transparency International, Suharto is the most corrupt leader in modern history, having embezzled an alleged US $15–35 billion during his rule.

—
SYNONYMS

a cut of the action, a little on the side (something extra), backhander, backscratch, baksheesh, bought influence, bribe (money), brown envelope, bunce, cash under the table, conflict-of-interest payment, corrupt gratuity (paymen), covert commission (gratuity), cut, dirty money, dodgy commission, envelope money, facilitation payment, feathering one's nest, for services rendered, grease (money, payment), grease the skids, greasing palms (the wheels), hidden commission, hush money, illicit/improper commission (inducement, payment), KICKBACK, lining one's pockets, lubrication payment, money under the table, off-the-books payment, palm-greasing, payoff, payola, piece of the action, pocket lining, protection money, quid pro quo, rake-off, secret commission (cut, payment, rebate), side payment, skim, skimming off the top, slush fund (money), something on the side (under the table), squeeze, steer money, sweetener, sweetheart deal, taking a cut (a slice), the (usual) arrangement, tipping the scales, token of appreciation, under-the-counter payment, under-the-table deal (payment), unofficial commission (fee, payment, percentage, rebate), wet the beak

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“The presence of KICKBACKS is a strong indicator of corruption in a system.”

—
Why Support OWAD?

On evenings and weekends, I research and write your daily OWAD newsletter together with Helga (my lovely wife and business partner) and our eagle-eyed daughter Jennifer. It remains FREE, AD-FREE, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers.

If you aren’t already, please consider supporting us — even a small donation, equivalent to just 1-cup-of-coffee a month, would help us in covering expenses for mailing, site-hosting, maintenance, and service.

Just head over to DonorBox:
Please help keep OWAD alive

or

Bank transfer:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

Important: please state as ’Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul & Helga Smith