sugar

[Cacasenno]

Sugar

SYLLABICATION: sug·ar
PRONUNCIATION: shgr
NOUN: 1. A sweet crystalline or powdered substance, white when pure, consisting of sucrose obtained mainly from sugar cane and sugar beets and used in many foods, drinks, and medicines to improve their taste. Also called table sugar. 2. Any of a class of water-soluble crystalline carbohydrates, including sucrose and lactose, having a characteristically sweet taste and classified as monosaccharides, disaccharides, and trisaccharides. 3. A unit, such as a lump or cube, in which sugar is dispensed or taken. 4. Slang Sweetheart. Used as a term of endearment.
VERB: Inflected forms: sug·ared, sug·ar·ing, sug·ars
TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To coat, cover, or sweeten with sugar. 2. To make less distasteful or more appealing.
INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To form sugar. 2. To form granules; granulate. 3. To make sugar or syrup from sugar maple sap. Often used with off.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English sugre, from Old French sukere, from Medieval Latin succrum, from Old Italian zucchero, from Arabic sukkar, from Persian shakar, from Sanskrit arkar, grit, ground sugar.
OTHER FORMS: sugar·er —NOUN

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

[Perry]

Also sukkar in Hebrew. (Ain't we Semites sweet?)

[sluggo]

Sounds similar to Semitic in Scottish Gaelic, though spelt siùcar.

I'm reminded of an old story where someone asked George Bernard Shaw if he was aware that the only English word to begin with S but be pronounced sh was sugar.

Replied the Irish wright: "sure."