← Wordbook

Pukka

पक्का
PUH-kuh

Genuine, solid, properly made — an Indian English adjective meaning "the real deal".

Meaning & usage

In Hindi, "pakka" literally means "cooked" or "ripe" — by extension solid, firm, finished. Carried into Indian English (and from there into British English), pukka means genuine, first-rate, properly made — "a pukka degree", "a pukka job". It is the opposite of "kachcha", which means raw, half-built or makeshift. The word travels easily; the British TV chef Jamie Oliver popularised it in the UK in the 1990s.

In a sentence

They moved out of the kachcha hut into a pukka brick house.

Common spelling variants

  • Pucka
  • Pakka

Pukka is the canonical English spelling used in MG Mini puzzles.

Category: General Origin: Hindi Script: Hindi