The story
- Telugu · derived fromఉక్కు“steel”
- Kannada · derived fromಉಕ್ಕು
- English todaywootz
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, probably from a misreading of wook, an English transcription of (the root of) Kannada ಉಕ್ಕು (ukku),ಉರ್ಕು (urku, “steel”), Telugu ఉక్కు (ukku, “steel”); akin to Tamil உருகு (uruku, “to melt”) and உருக்கு (urukku, “melted thing, steel”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.