Shugga

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An informal, affectionate nickname for a loved one, a playful respelling of sugar as used in casual speech
2. A casual pet name used to address a sweetheart or dear friend, based on the everyday word for sugar
3. A dialect form of sugar used as an endearing term of address for someone one cares about

Etymology: The word "shugga" is a pronunciation spelling of "sugar", so the history is that of sugar itself. Its ancestry runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "gravel", and the same root gave Ancient Greek "krokē", "pebble", which is also behind "crocodile". That is a surprising kinship: a sweet crystalline substance and a pebble-strewn river creature share a distant ancestor. The path into English ran eastward first. Sanskrit "śárkarā" (meaning grit or gravel, and later sugar) passed through Gandhari and Middle Persian, where it became "šakar", then into Arabic as "sukkar". Italian traders carried the word to "zucchero", and Old French turned it into "çucre". English took it from French in Middle English as "sugre", which became the modern "sugar". "Shugga" is simply a spoken, non-standard rendering of that same word, with the vowel and final consonant softened as in casual speech. The verb "to sugar" came later, formed in Middle English from the noun by adding "sugren".