Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·South Asia ·1770s
Pukka
from pakkā
- Meaning
- Genuine, proper, first-class.
- Source word
- pakkā
- Route into English
- Hindi *pakkā* (cooked, ripe, solid) → Anglo-Indian → English, mostly British. *Pakkā* contrasts with *kaccā* (raw, flimsy) — a *pukka sahib* was a proper gentleman, a *pukka house* a solid brick one.
- Arrived
- 1770s
From South Asia
Three centuries of British colonial contact — East India Company, Raj, military, domestic life — deposited a distinct Hindi/Urdu/Bengali/Sanskrit layer in everyday English.
English borrows.
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