Learn English – Should I say “ATM” or “cashpoint” in the UK

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ATM is an initialism of automated teller machine, coined sometime in the 1970s. I have always considered it an Americanism while its British equivalent has always been cashpoint, Oxford Living Dictionaries tell me it is a trademark (who knew?). Wiktionary states that it was originally a registered trademark of Lloyds Bank.

Neither Oxford nor Wiktionary offers me any alternatives. Luckily, a quick Google search unearthed the following BrEng terms kindly supplied by Macmillan Dictionary:

  • cash dispenser
  • cash machine
  • hole-in-the-wall (informal)
  • machine

I know for a fact that ATM is the most common term used in the US but I do not know about the UK. Is it still cashpoint? Has ATM superseded it?

Question
In 2017, what is the most common term in the UK for a machine that dispenses cash?

Best Answer

Source: I'm in my early thirties and have lived my whole life in South East England.

I would personally use the term "cash machine" (or the abbreviated version "machine", see further comments below). As to the other suggested terms:

  • ATM - I fully recognise this, and might even use it occasionally. This is probably due to the influence of the large amount of US television I watch.

  • Cashpoint - I don't recognise this term. On the UK television programme "Dragon's Den" they have a new dragon who is described as "The Cashpoint Queen" from her previous "cashpoint" business. Neither my wife (same age and location history as myself) or I was sure what it meant, but we decided it probably meant "cash machine".

  • Cash dispenser - Isn't this part of a self-checkout at a supermarket? The bit that gives you your change? That's my first instinct anyway, but in context it would probably be clear what it meant.

  • Hole-in-the-wall - I recognise this from my youth, so probably mid 90s (when I could first get money out of one) up until early 2000s? I don't hear it currently though. Though that could be as I moved in the early 2000s from East Kent to Hampshire, and have since moved to Surrey and commute into London.

  • Machine - I use this, as an abbreviation of "cash machine", especially if I'm also using "cash" elsewhere in the sentence. I might typically say to the wife, "I'm getting some cash out of the machine later; do you want any?".

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