Language Matters | Pukka, favourite catchphrase of celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver, entered the English lexicon via the British Raj
- TV chef Jamie Oliver popularised the usage of pukka, English slang for something that is top quality, superb, excellent or cool
- It’s a word that’s evolved a lot from its roots in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu, where its meaning is ‘cooked, ripe, mature’ and ‘thorough, substantial, permanent’
There are Pukka teas and Pukka herbs and Pukka Pies. Pukka was (for a period) a favourite catchphrase of British celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver.
In contemporary British English slang – especially in London – pukka (pronounced “PUCK-uh”) has been used since the 1990s to signify that something is top quality, excellent, superb, cool. But for those old enough to recall, the word evokes the British Raj.
It originates in pakkā from Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu, meaning “cooked, ripe, mature”, as well as “thorough, substantial, permanent”, derived from Sanskrit pakva-, meaning “cooked, ripe, fully developed”.
During the centuries of British rule in India the word entered Anglo-Indian English, along with its opposite term kutcha or cutcha, from Hindi kačča, meaning “raw or crude, unripe or uncooked”.
In South Asian contexts, one usage, now rare, involved weights or measures to mean “good, the largest possible, or in full measure”. A “List of Goods” in William Foster’s The English Factories in India, 1618-1621, notes that “99 camells ladinge are pucka … 70 camells are cutcha”.
Another South Asian use is in reference to permanent, solidly built buildings or other constructions, or to high-quality building materials. Pucca/pukka housing comprises dwellings built of stone, brick, timber, mortar or concrete, as opposed to kutcha housing, which is of more flimsy mud construction.