sukari
noun
sugar; also used as a term of sweetness or affection.
Literal in the kitchen, figurative in songs and affectionate speech.
Origins
Sukari entered Swahili from Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar), “sugar,” as a pre-modern coastal borrowing.
Sergio Baldi, Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), entry 1314, 160.
Traces Swahili sukari to Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar), “sugar.”
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 352.
Records sukari as sugar, marked as Arabic.
Examples
Weka sukari kwenye chai.
Put sugar in the tea.
Chai hii ina sukari nyingi.
This tea has a lot of sugar.
Sukari ilimalizika jikoni.
The sugar ran out in the kitchen.
Usitie sukari nyingi.
Do not add a lot of sugar.
Sukari yangu, umefika.
My sweet one, you have arrived.
Ninunua sukari dukani.
I am buying sugar at the shop.
Kahawa hii ina sukari kidogo.
This coffee has a little sugar.
Waliimba wimbo wa sukari.
They sang a song about sweetness.
Sukari inaweza kuoza meno.
Sugar can spoil teeth.
