A.Word.A.Day --sukey

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Today's Word

sukey

PRONUNCIATION:

(SOO-kee)

MEANING:

noun: A tea-kettle.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Suki, a girl in the nursery rhyme “Polly Put the Kettle On”. Earliest documented use: 1803.

NOTES:

In the nursery rhyme “Polly Put the Kettle On”, a tea party is going on:

Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
We’ll all have tea.

Suki take it off again,
Suki take it off again,
Suki take it off again,
They’ve all gone away.

The two characters are girls and/or dolls named Polly (a pet form of the name Mary) and Suki (pet form of the names Susan/Susanna). Over time the the name Suki became an eponym for a tea-kettle.

USAGE:

“I’ll just get the sukey going, and then we’ll have a nice cup of tea.”
Marghanita Laski; The Village; Cresset Press; 1952.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

[Destroying rainforests for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal. -E.O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author (b. 10 Jun 1929)

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