lekker, adjective and & adverb
- Forms:
- Show more Also lecker, leke, lekka.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans (earlier Dutch), in the sense ‘delicious’ (of food).
colloquial
- Note:
- The pronunciation /ˈlʌkə/ is commonly heard in Kwazulu-Natal.
A. adjective
1.
a. A term of general approbation: ‘nice’, ‘pleasant’, ‘good’, ‘lovely’.
- Note:
- Initially used only of food and drink, but subsequently broadened in usage.
1847 J. Barrow Autobiog. Memoir 188Mr. Bresler, having heard that the gelatinous hoof of the hippopotamus was delicious, had one of them cooked in his iron pot...The landrost..got through the whole foot, exclaiming repeatedly how lekker (delicious) it was.
1994 Sunday Times 23 Jan. 28 (advt)We can’t always keep the lekker local flavour of South Africa to ourselves...If you don’t believe biltong is the lekkerest, best loved snack in the land, try this; put down a bowl of peanuts, a bowl of crisps and a bowl of biltong.
b. In the expression local is lekker: a slogan expressing or calling for pride in South African achievements; used also as adjectival phrase and noun phrase.
- Note:
- Used originally of local popular music.
1983 Sunday Times 4 Sept. (Mag. Sect.) 30At 702, they call Neil Johnson ‘The Local Hero’. Just a dash of irony there, of course. Because the fact is, the station doesn’t really go for the Local is Lekker Affirmative Action programme.
1995 Natal Witness 3 Jan. 7Local is lekker! The Woza ’95 festival held..in Durban yesterday proved that South African music is highly appreciated.
c. Special collocations
||lekkergoed /ˈlekə(r)xʊt/, /-xut/ noun [Afrikaans, goed stuff, things], sweet things, especially sweets; cf. lekkers;
||lekkerjuk /ˈlekə(r)jək/ noun [adaptation of Afrikaans lekkerjeuk, jeuk itch], also lekkerkrap /-krap/ [Afrikaans, krap scratch], scabies, infectious itch;
lekker lewe /ˈlekə(r)ˌlɪəvə/, formerly also lekker leven, [Afrikaans lewe, earlier Dutch leven life], ‘the good life’;
1938 F.C. Slater Trek 45He would stir About the camp to find them koekies sweet, Raisins and other lekkergoed to eat.
1990 J.G. Davis Land God Made in Anger 266He knew the type: the lower-class whites which this country protected with its Apartheid, the lekker ous with their leather lumberjackets and their zoot suits.
2. transferred sense. Usually predicative. Of people: lightly intoxicated, ‘happy’, tipsy.
1913 W.C. Scully Further Reminisc. 66For upwards of a quarter of a century Jacomina had spent more than half her time in gaol — for drunkenness or violent incontinence of speech when only ‘lekker’ or half-tipsy.
1978 Post 12 Oct. (Woman’s Post) 8The cheese helped keep everybody just ‘lekker’ and not too stoned to make them rowdy.
‖3. Of water: ‘sweet’, wholesome.
1936 C. Birkby Thirstland Treks 117‘Lekker water,’ she cried, her arms outstretched. ‘Sweet water.’ Can you imagine a child begging not for a crust or a penny, but for a drink of water that is not brak, bitter to the mouth?
1969 J.M. White Land God Made in Anger 53The land pants eternally for moisture. It is not for nothing that the talk here is all of lekker water — sweet water — a monologue concerning dams and barrages, canals, pipelines and storage tanks.
B. adverb
1. Well; delightfully.
1900 A.W. Carter Informant, Ladybrand 8 Feb.On Monday these left and in moving round the mountain was ‘verneuked’ as Hannes said ‘lekker’.
2. Very, incredibly, wonderfully; ‘nice and ...’.
1916 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 210Mrs H: Oh, I suppose you’d sooner she showed you the rooms than me? Van K (embarrassed): She’s a ripper — lekker fet.
‘nice’, ‘pleasant’, ‘good’, ‘lovely’.
In the expression local is lekker: a slogan expressing or calling for pride in South African achievements; used also as adjectival phrase and noun phrase.
lightly intoxicated, ‘happy’, tipsy.
‘sweet’, wholesome.
Well; delightfully.
Very, incredibly, wonderfully; ‘nice and ...’.
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