live paycheck to paycheck

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Have barely enough money to cover expenses until the next paycheck

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Chỉ đủ tiền để trang trải chi phí cho đến kỳ lương tiếp theo

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: receiving a paycheck to immediately spend it
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Many families live paycheck to paycheck due to high living costs

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “live paycheck to paycheck” mean?

Have barely enough money to cover expenses until the next paycheck Literally: receiving a paycheck to immediately spend it

Is “live paycheck to paycheck” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.