jaggery means A traditional dark-brown unrefined sugar made from palm tree sap which is used throughout South and Southeast Asia; (by extension) other types of unrefined sugar.
jaggery is pronounced /ˈdʒæɡəɹi/.
Why “jaggery” is a great word
A traditional dark-brown unrefined sugar made from palm or sugarcane sap. Its name was borrowed into English between 1590 and 1600 via Indo-Portuguese *jágara* or *jagra*, from Malayalam *ചക്കര* (cakkara) or Tamil *சக்கரை* (cakkarai), both meaning 'jaggery', which derive from Sanskrit *शर्करा* (śarkarā, 'ground sugar, grit, gravel'), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European **ḱorkeh₂* ('boulder, gravel'). Unlike 'muscovado,' a centrifuged cane sugar with a pungent molasses note, or 'panela,' a term bound to the molds and mountains of Latin America, jaggery is the protean, non-centrifugal essence of sap—palm or cane—boiled and set into its humble, gritty form. It is the crude coin of a village market, the smoky depth in a clay-pot curry, and the coarse sweetness pressed into a festival sweet—the taste of earth, fire, and time, reduced to its most nourishing grit.
Etymology
Borrowed from Indo-Portuguese jágara, jagra, from Malayalam ചക്കര (cakkara, “jaggery”) or Tamil சக்கரை (cakkarai), from Sanskrit शर्करा (śarkarā, “candied or ground sugar; (chiefly in the plural) grit, gravel, shingle; gravelly soil; pebble”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ (“boulder; gravel”). Doublet of sugar.
noun
- A traditional dark-brown unrefined sugar made from palm tree sap which is used throughout South and Southeast Asia; (by extension) other types of unrefined sugar.
- A small-scale production plant that processes sugar cane to make sugar.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- demerara 51% match — A type of natural, unrefined or partially refined cane sugar, which is light brown in colour, particularly used in pastries and biscuits like shortbread. vs jaggery →
- cassonade 50% match — raw unrefined cane sugar vs jaggery →
- muscovado 50% match — An unrefined brown sugar with a strong flavour of molasses. vs jaggery →
- neera 49% match — A sweet sap extracted from the inflorescence of various species of toddy palm and widely consumed in India and other Asian countries, sometimes fermented to produce toddy. vs jaggery →
- jeropiga 49% match — A liqueur made from partially fermented malt or wine, found mainly in Portugal. vs jaggery →
- saba 49% match — A sweet grape syrup made from grape must vs jaggery →
- goracco 49% match — A paste prepared with tobacco and jaggery, smoked in hookahs in western India. vs jaggery →
- dodol 49% match — A sweet, sticky toffee-like confection made from coconut milk, jaggery, and rice flour, found in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. vs jaggery →