Lekker means tasty, and by extension nice, good or fun. It is an everyday adjective in Dutch and Afrikaans, and it crossed into South African English as informal slang for anything good: a lekker meal, a lekker day, a lekker time. In Dutch it is pronounced roughly LEK-er.
Origin
Wiktionary traces lekker to Middle Dutch lecker, derived from the verb lekken, “to lick”, and lists cognates in German lecker, Afrikaans lekker, Middle Low German lecker, Norwegian lekker, Swedish läcker and Danish lækker. The taste meaning came first; the general “good, nice” meaning grew out of it.
Afrikaans inherited the word from Dutch, and English borrowed it from Afrikaans. Dictionary.com dates the first English record to 1845–50, and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries labels it “South African English, informal”, with the word origin “Afrikaans, from Dutch, literally ‘delicious’.”
Dutch vs Afrikaans vs South African English
| Dutch (Netherlands, Belgium) | Afrikaans | South African English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core sense | Tasty; good, nice, pleasant | Tasty, delicious; good, fun | Good or nice; tasting good |
| Extra senses | Colloquial “hot, sexy”; (with a negative) unwell; informal “sane” | Informal “sexy”; (with a negative) unwell; adverb “properly, badly” | Adverb “very” (“I’m lekker full”, Oxford Learner’s) |
| As an exclamation | — | Lekker! (yum), or sarcastic “goody!” | Lekker! (great) |
| Noun | — (a separate noun lekker means “leaker”) | Lekker, a sweet; pleasure | — |
Sources: Wiktionary, Oxford Learner’s, Dictionary.com.
Common Collocations
All examples are the usage citations given by Wiktionary unless noted.
| Phrase | Language | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Lekker weer! | Dutch | Nice weather! |
| Het badwater is lekker warm. | Dutch | The bathwater is pleasantly warm. |
| Lekker belangrijk | Dutch | Ironic: not very important |
| Zich niet lekker voelen | Dutch | To feel unwell |
| Die kos het lekker gesmaak. | Afrikaans | The food tasted nice. |
| Lekker tye | Afrikaans | Fun times |
| Ons het lekker gespeel. | Afrikaans | We had a great time playing. |
| The lekker lewe | South African English | The good life, a mostly carefree existence (Dictionary.com) |
| It was lekker to see you again. | South African English | It was nice to see you again (Oxford Learner’s) |
How It’s Used
Beyond food, Dutch uses lekker for anything pleasant, as in “ik ga zo lekker zwemmen” (I’m going for a nice swim). The colloquial “sexy” sense (“hij is zo’n lekker ding”, he’s such a hottie) is colloquial. Wiktionary’s usage note warns that the adverb often carries an ironic edge: lekker belangrijk or lekker boeiend means the opposite of important or interesting.
In South Africa the English word is upbeat and casual. Collins, quoted on Dictionary.com, also records lekker as a popular slogan promoting South African culture and produce.