Pukka
adj, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Genuine or authentic; hence of behaviour: correct, socially acceptable or proper.
"Maha Rajah said it was necessary to witness it to make it pukka; and they said so too, and then signed it."
- 2 Constructed as a permanent building, with high-quality materials (especially fired clay bricks and tiles as opposed to unfired mud and thatch). South-Asia
"The popular classification of wells is, however, into pukka and kuchcha. Percolation wells are usually pukka or brickbuilt. Spring wells are of three kinds—(1) pukka, where the sub-soil to the spring is sandy, and masonry is necessary througout; […] (3) kuchcha wells, made of clay throughout."
- 3 Superior or of high quality; first-class; excellent. British, slang
"Mind you, it was a pukka, respectable opium-house, and not one of those stifling, sweltering chandoo-khanas, that you can find all over the City."
- 1 absolutely first class and genuine wordnet
Example
More examples"Maha Rajah said it was necessary to witness it to make it pukka; and they said so too, and then signed it."
Etymology
From Hindi पक्का (pakkā, “certain, sure”), Punjabi ਪੱਕਾ (pakkā, “mature, ripe; cooked; strong, substantial; genuine, sound, true, valid”) and Urdu پکا (pakkā, “mature, ripe; cooked; strong, substantial; genuine, sound, true, valid”), from Sanskrit पक्व (pakva, “baked, cooked, roasted”), from पचति (pacati, “to bake, cook, roast”).
Related phrases
More for "pukka"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.