Friday, February 8, 2013

Hindi Word in English: Seersucker

The English word SEERSUCKER refers to a puckered cotton fabric used for spring and summer clothing, and it was a popular clothing choice in the British colonial period. The word comes from Hindi sirsakar which in turn comes from Persian shir-o-shakkar, "milk-and-sugar," which refers metaphorically to the smooth-and-rough pattern of the cloth, as you can see in the image below.

So, no seers! no sucking! It is just the magic of word borrowing from one language to another to another!