seersucker
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of seersucker
1715–25; < Hindi sīrsakar < Persian shīr o shakar literally, milk and sugar
Explanation
Seersucker is a lightweight, summery fabric with a puckered surface and stripes. Southern writers love a pale blue and white seersucker suit in the summertime because it pairs well with sweet tea, Spanish moss, and croquet. Seersucker comes in many colors and is occasionally checkered, although it usually has stripes over a white background. British colonists in India were the first English-speakers to wear seersucker. They also anglicized the name from the Hindi sirsakar, which comes from the Persian šir o šakar, "striped cloth," or literally, "milk and sugar," referring to the cloth's alternation of smoothness and puckered surface.
Vocabulary lists containing seersucker
English Words Derived from Hindi
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Fabulous Fabrics
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All the King's Men
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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.
The soap-bubble fantasy of Ms. Lemann’s New Orleans rather calls to mind the Hundred Acre Wood, if Christopher Robin were a gentle, dissipated loafer in a wrinkled seersucker suit.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
In its latest tennis equipment collection, the L.A.-based streetwear brand adds a few more staple pieces — like a seersucker jacket and a fully equipped racquet tote — to its growing selection of tennis wear.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2025
It’s a summer sport, seersucker would at least make sense.
From Seattle Times • May 16, 2023
Under cloudless skies, ladies swanned about in colorful broad-brimmed hats and gentlemen donned seersucker suits, the trademark pageantry of the sport of kings.
From Salon • Dec. 10, 2021
Women shoppers with bundles and impatient men in straw hats and seersucker suits stood along the platform as they passed.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
