Etymograph

English

sugar

Sugar comes from Old French çucre, possibly via Old Italian zucchero, from Arabic سُكَّر, from Middle Persian šakar, ultimately from Sanskrit शर्करा ‘gravel, grit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorkeh₂1‘gravel, boulder’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*ćárkaraH1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Aryanprehistoric (reconstructed)*śárkaraH1reconstructed
  4. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEशर्करा1‘gravel, grit’
  5. pgdmodern𐨭𐨐𐨪1‘sugar’
  6. Middle Persianc. 300 BCE–900 CEškl1‘sugar’
  7. Arabicc. 500–presentسُكَّر1‘sugar’
  8. Old Italianmodernzucchero2uncertain
  9. Old Frenchc. 842–1400çucre1‘sugar’
  10. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sugre1‘sugar’
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1717sugar1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sugar
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French çucre
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, M. de Fontenelle, Upon the Iron of Plants: “Mons. Lemery is of Opinion that Sweetness proceeds from…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorkeh₂Wiktionary, English sugar‘gravel, boulder’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*ćárkaraHWiktionary, English sugarreconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Aryanprehistoric (reconstructed)*śárkaraHWiktionary, English sugarreconstructed
  4. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEशर्कराWiktionary, English sugar‘gravel, grit’
  5. pgdmodern𐨭𐨐𐨪Wiktionary, English sugar‘sugar’
  6. Middle Persianc. 300 BCE–900 CEšklWiktionary, English sugar‘sugar’
  7. Arabicc. 500–presentسُكَّرWiktionary, English sugar‘sugar’
  8. Old ItalianmodernzuccheroWiktionary, Old French çucreuncertain
  9. Old Frenchc. 842–1400çucreWiktionary, English sugar‘sugar’
  10. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sugreWiktionary, English sugar‘sugar’
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1717sugarWiktionary, English sugar. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, M. de Fontenelle, Upon the Iron of Plants: “Mons. Lemery is of Opinion that Sweetness proceeds from…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with sugar, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ ‘gravel’

  • jaggery ← jágara ← ചക്കര ← शर्करा ← *śárkaraH
  • saccharin ← saccharum ← saccharon ← σάκχαρ ← sakkharā

11 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A food consisting of small, sweet crystals, principally of sucrose, obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet and used as sweetener and preservative.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sugar”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old French çucre. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ / sugar