Etymology

sugar

S1U1G2A1R1

Today it means: A food consisting of small, sweet crystals, principally of sucrose, obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet and used as sweetener and preservative. Full definition →

Middle English sugre ← Old French çucre ← Old Italian zucchero
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

sugar · noun, verb, interjection1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱorkeh₂
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranian*ćárkaraH
  3. Proto-Indo-Aryan*śárkaraH
  4. Sanskritशर्क॑रा (śárkarā)
  5. Middle Persian𐭱𐭪𐭥 (šakar)
  6. Arabicسُكَّر (sukkar)
  7. Old Italianzucchero
  8. Old Frenchçucre
  9. Middle Englishsugre
  10. English todaysugar

Inherited from Middle English sugre, borrowed from Old French çucre, borrowed from Old Italian zucchero, borrowed from Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar), borrowed from Middle Persian 𐭱𐭪𐭥 (šakar), borrowed from Gandhari 𐨭𐨐𐨪 (śakara), from Sanskrit शर्क॑रा (śárkarā), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *śárkaraH, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćárkaraH, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ (“gravel”). Akin to Ancient Greek κρόκη (krókē, “pebble”), whence the words crocodile and krokodil are derived. Doublet of jaggery and sucro-. The verb is from Middle English sugren, from the noun.

Sugar · noun, proper noun2

  1. German · semantic loan fromZucker“sugar”
  2. English todaySugar

* As a Hungarian surname, from the noun sugár (“light ray”). * As a German and Jewish surname, semantic loan from German Zucker (“sugar”).

Words from the same roots

GermanZucker all →

Zucker

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.