giro
n. countablen. a payment made by the government to people who are unemployed or need financial help. It can also mean the system used to send money directly between bank accounts.
n. a system for transferring money directly from one bank account to another without using a cheque; also refers to a social security payment made by this method. Often associated with government welfare payments in British English.
He went to the post office to cash his giro.
Many families in the neighborhood relied on their fortnightly giro to cover basic living expenses like rent and groceries.
The transition from physical giro cheques to direct electronic transfers was intended to reduce administrative costs and prevent the loss of payments in the postal system.
Via German, from Italian giro (“circulation”), from Latin gyrus (“circle”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to curve, to bend”).
In British English, it is frequently used as a synonym for an unemployment benefit check.