Word: Pukka

pukka \PUK-uh\ adjective

: genuine, authentic; also : first-class

Example sentence:
Ellingsworth stood framed in the door of his club, the picture of a pukka gentleman, immaculately groomed, upper lip appropriately stiff, perfectly genteel.

Did you know?
"Pukka" tends to evoke the height of 18th- and 19th-century British imperialism in India, and, indeed, it was first used in English at the trial, in 1775, of a certain Maha Rajah Nundocomar, accused of forgery, and tried by a British court in Bengal. The word is borrowed from Hindi and Urdu "pakkā," which means not only "cooked" and "ripe," but "solid" as well. The English speakers who borrowed it applied the "sound and reliable" sense of "solid" and thus it came to mean "genuine" or "bona fide." As the British Raj waned, "pukka" was occasionally appended to "sahib" (an Anglo-Indian word for a European of some social or official status). That expression is sometimes used as a compliment for an elegant and refined gentleman, but it can also imply that someone is overbearing and pretentious.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

My sentence:
I'd be extremely surprised if anyone referred to me as a pukka lady.

Comments

[Vanessa]

I blame Jamie Oliver, but yeah, pukka's a modern Estuary English word.

[Cyn]

Pukka is still in use?!
I did learn something today.

[Cheekysquirrel]

So would I, more likely usage is:

She was completely pukka

That post was pukka

We had this well pukka meal

Her ass was pukka man

Currently in main use in parts of London or by people who watch too many Jamie Oliver cookery shows.