Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Genuine; authentic.
  • adjective Superior; first-class.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective India Same as pucka.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective genuine or authentic
  • adjective superior or of high quality; first-class

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective absolutely first class and genuine

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi pakkā, cooked, ripe, from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, he cooks; see pekw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi पक्का (pakkā) and Urdu پکا (pakkā), from Sanskrit पक्व (pakva, "cooked, roasted, baked"), from पचति (pácati, "to cook, bake, roast").

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Examples

  • No doubt you could teach him how to 'pukka' properly too.

    Cruel and Unusual Newmania 2007

  • All were prepared to enjoy themselves on this occasion, as it was felt, on reviewing the past six months, during which time we had been fighting incessantly in "pukka" battles, in which we had acquitted ourselves not badly, that we had thoroughly earned a week or two of complete rest and quiet.

    Three years in France with the Guns: Being Episodes in the life of a Field Battery C. A. Rose

  • I have heard a distinction made between "pukka" padres and those who have not enjoyed the advantages of episcopal ordination.

    A Padre in France George A. Birmingham 1907

  • Still he did feel that Miltoun was altogether too much the 'pukka' aristocrat -- no better than a Socialist, with his confounded way of seeing things all cut and dried; his ideas of forcing reforms down people's throats and holding them there with the iron hand!

    The Patrician John Galsworthy 1900

  • Still he did feel that Miltoun was altogether too much the 'pukka' aristocrat -- no better than a Socialist, with his confounded way of seeing things all cut and dried; his ideas of forcing reforms down people's throats and holding them there with the iron hand!

    Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works John Galsworthy 1900

  • Oliver first rose to worldwide fame as The Naked Chef, a boisterous hipster everyman who tossed around words like "pukka" with the emphatic and gratuitous self-assurance his American peers let fly "bam" and "yum-o," and who scooted about late Cool Britannia London from home to fishmonger to ethnic grocer to indie cheese shop and back home to the kitchen.

    Reason Magazine Baylen Linnekin 2010

  • What do you mean by 'pukka' and 'not pukka' coldie?

    politicalbetting.com 2010

  • Italian from Carluccio's is the use of the word "pukka" as a menu adjective.

    getreading - Reading Post - RSS feed 2010

  • The only thing that separates Jamie's Italian from Carluccio's is the use of the word "pukka" as a menu adjective.

    getreading - Reading Post - RSS feed 2010

  • So you want to learn how to cook but you can't bear all of those grisly celebrity chefs trying to seduce you with their 'pukka' recipes.

    Independent.ie - Frontpage RSS Feed 2009

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  • Derived from Hindi word for cooked or ripe.

    March 28, 2009