Yakka

Yakka

Yakka is a loan word from two different Australian Aboriginal languages, both now commonly used in broader Australian English vocabulary. The word may refer to:

* Hard work, from the Jagara people of Moreton Bay. It was spelled yakker or yacker until World War II [Peters, Pam, "The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide", Cambridge University Press, 1996, p823] . To engage in hard yakka is a common phrase in the Australian lexicon. One of Australia's most well-known brands of work clothing is called " [http://www.yakka.com.au Hard Yakka] "
* A grasstree, also spelled yacca or yacka, "Xanthorrhoea." Probably a loanword from a South Australian language such as Kaurna. It is often called "blackboy", although this term is becoming somewhat politically incorrect.
* The Yakka Skink, a small reptile native to Australia.
* There is also an Australian town, Yacka, South Australia, possibly named after the abundance of the Xanthorrhoea plant in the area.
* Yakka Punch, a drink made primarily with vodka and lemons, with claims of origin in Stellenbosch, South Africa


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  • yakka — Work, strenuous labour. Also used as a verb meaning to work . The word is used especially in the phrasehard yakka. It comes from yaga meaning work in the Yagara indigenous language of the Brisbane region.Yakka found its way into nineteenth… …   Australian idioms

  • yakka — /ˈjækə / (say yakuh) –noun 1. Colloquial work: *The old man come up the hard way but his kids ll always have plenty others to do the hard yakka. –mary durack, 1959. –verb (i) 2. Obsolete to work: to yakka in the paddock all day. Also, yacker,… …  

  • yakka — /yak euh/, n. Australian. work, esp. hard work. [1885 90; earlier sp. yacker, yakker; of obscure orig.] * * * …   Universalium

  • yakka — 1. noun work 2. verb to work …   Wiktionary

  • Yakka — (hard manual) work …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • yakka — Australian Slang (hard manual) work, an Aboriginal term …   English dialects glossary

  • yakka — (yacka) n Australian work. The word is a native Aboriginal proper name …   Contemporary slang

  • yakka — [ jakə] (also yacker) noun Austral./NZ informal work. Origin from Yagara (an Aborig. lang.) yaga to work …   English new terms dictionary

  • yakka — yak·ka …   English syllables

  • yakka — UK [ˈjækə] / US noun [uncountable] Australian informal work …   English dictionary

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