(sîrˈsŭkˌər)
noun A light thin fabric, generally cotton or rayon, with a crinkled surface and a usually striped pattern.
Word History: Through its etymology,
seersucker gives us a glimpse into the history of India. The word came into English from Hindi
sīrsakar, which had been borrowed from the Persian compound
shīroshakar, meaning literally “milk and sugar” but used figuratively for a striped linen garment. The Persian word
shakar, “sugar,” in turn came from Sanskrit
śarkarā. The linguistic borrowings here reflect a broader history of cultural borrowing. In the 6th century the Persians borrowed not only the word for sugar from India but sugar itself. During and after Tamerlane's invasion of India in the late 14th century, opportunities for borrowing Persian things and words such as
shīroshakar were widespread, since Tamerlane incorporated Persia as well as India into his empire. It then remained for the English to borrow from an Indian language the material and its name
seersucker (first recorded in 1722 in the form
Sea Sucker) during the 18th century, when the East India Company and England were moving toward imperial supremacy in India.
