jaggery

American

[jag-uh-ree] / ˈdʒæg ə ri /

noun

a coarse, dark sugar, especially that made from the sap of East Indian palm trees.

jaggery British

/ ˈdʒæɡərɪ /

noun

a coarse brown sugar made in the East Indies from the sap of the date palm

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of jaggery

1590–1600; < Portuguese (of India) jágara, jagre < Malayalam chakkara < Sanskrit śarkarā sugar

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When boiled longer, it reduces into jaggery, a mineral-rich palm sugar with a lower glycaemic index than the commonly available white cane sugar.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

Along the coast, they added jaggery, an unrefined sugar, which can help protect from salt damage.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023

Both are made from a combination of sugarcane and jaggery and their café rum is infused with roasted coffee beans sourced from southern India.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2023

It was interesting to see how some of the cheftestants were totally unclear on certain Indian ingredients, such as jaggery or asafoetida.

From Salon • May 12, 2023

When fermented it yields by distillation arrack, and by evaporation jaggery.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section P and Q by Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023