Jaggery in Hindi: गुड़ (gud or gur)
The Hindi word for jaggery, how it is said, what the powder and the palm kinds are called, and the dishes it goes into.
In short: Jaggery is called गुड़ (gud or gur) in Hindi. Jaggery powder is गुड़ पाउडर, शक्कर (gud powder, shakkar). Said "gud" with a soft, flapped d, a sound English has no letter for. That is why the same word is spelled gud, gur, gurh and goor.
The Hindi words for jaggery
| In English | In Hindi | In Latin letters |
|---|---|---|
| Jaggery | गुड़ | gud or gur |
| Jaggery powder | गुड़ पाउडर, शक्कर | gud powder, shakkar |
| A large lump of jaggery | भेली | bheli |
| Sugarcane jaggery | गन्ने का गुड़ | ganne ka gud |
| Liquid jaggery | राब | raab |
| Palm jaggery | ताड़ का गुड़ | taad ka gud |
| Date palm jaggery | खजूर का गुड़ | khajur ka gud |
Hindi (हिन्दी) is spoken in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and across north India.
Gud in the Hindi kitchen
गुड़ comes down from the Sanskrit guda and is one of the oldest food words in Hindi. In the villages of the cane belt it is not an ingredient so much as a season: when the kolhus start in the cold months, there is fresh gur in every house.
The powder is where the confusion lies. On a pack it is गुड़ पाउडर. In the speech of western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab it is शक्कर (shakkar). But in Madhya Pradesh and much of central and western India, शक्कर simply means white sugar, and Hindi dictionaries define it that way.
Gur has also given Hindi two of its best idioms. गुड़ गोबर कर देना, to turn gur into dung, is to ruin a good thing. गुड़ खाए, गुलगुलों से परहेज़, to eat gur but refuse gulgule, is to make a show of avoiding what you are already doing.
What it goes into
- Gur ki chai. Tea sweetened with gur, added off the heat.
- Gur ki roti. Jaggery kneaded into the atta.
- Gulgule. Fritters of atta and gur.
- Gajar ka halwa. The winter halwa, darker and deeper with gur.
- Til gur ke laddoo. For Makar Sankranti.
- Gur ki kheer. Called rasiya at Chhath.
Recipes on this site that cook with the same gur: gur ki chai, gur ki roti, gulgule, gajar ka halwa, til gur laddoo and gur ki kheer. All of them are on the recipes page.
The same gur, delivered
Whatever a kitchen calls it, sugarcane jaggery is one food. Ours is made from cane grown in the Muzaffarnagar belt of Uttar Pradesh, crushed on a village kolhu and cooked in open iron kadhais with nothing added, and sent across India as a powder and as cubes.
Jaggery in other languages
- Jaggery in Hindi: गुड़ (gud or gur)
- Jaggery in Punjabi: ਗੁੜ (gur)
- Jaggery in Urdu: گڑ (gur)
- Jaggery in Marathi: गूळ (gul)
- Jaggery in Gujarati: ગોળ (gol)
- Jaggery in Bengali: গুড় (gur)
- Jaggery in Odia: ଗୁଡ଼ (guda)
- Jaggery in Assamese: গুৰ (gur)
- Jaggery in Tamil: வெல்லம் (vellam)
- Jaggery in Telugu: బెల్లం (bellam)
- Jaggery in Kannada: ಬೆಲ್ಲ (bella)
- Jaggery in Malayalam: ശർക്കര (sharkara)
Every language side by side: jaggery names in Indian languages.
Questions people ask
- What is jaggery called in Hindi?
- Jaggery is called गुड़ (gud or gur) in Hindi. It is sugarcane juice boiled down until it sets, sold as a block, as cubes or as a powder.
- What is jaggery powder called in Hindi?
- गुड़ पाउडर, शक्कर (gud powder, shakkar). It is jaggery dried a little further and ground, so that it can be spooned and measured like sugar.
- What is the difference between gud and gur?
- None. Both are English spellings of the same Hindi word, गुड़. The last letter is a flapped sound that falls between d and r.
- Does shakkar mean jaggery or sugar in Hindi?
- It depends on the region. In western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, shakkar is powdered gur. In central and western India it means white sugar, which is the dictionary meaning.