demerara
/dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/US/dɛməˈɹɛɹə/
demerara is the alternative letter-case form of Demerara.
Proper noun capitalized: Demerara
Demerara
- A river which rises in the rainforests of Guyana, and flows north to the Atlantic Ocean, which the country's capital of Georgetown is situated on; in full, the Demerara River.
- A region of Guyana in South America, Essequebo en Demerary (Essequibo and Demerara), formerly a Dutch (later British) colony, located around the lower courses of this river.
Noun capitalized: Demerara
Demerara (countable and uncountable, plural Demeraras)
- A type of natural, unrefined or partially refined cane sugar, which is light brown in colour, particularly used in pastries and biscuits like shortbread.
- A dark rum, made in Guyana using molasses and this sugar, mainly used for blending.
- He related, “Down home we used to drink Demerara and when I was a lot younger than I am now I'd always get embarrassed, not being able to take it neat like most of them. You need a bull's gullet for neat Demerara."2010, Charmaine A. Nelson, Ebony Roots, Northern Soil: Perspectives on Blackness in Canada, page 314, quoting Yardley (a seaman in Canada circa 1900)
Forms of demerara
| plural | Demeraras |
|---|---|
| alternative form | demerara |
| alternative form | Demeraran |
| alternative form | demeraran |
Origin of demerara
The placename derives from an Arawak word. Perhaps Malali ("fast running stream"), which would have originally been the name of a section of rapids, from which the Dutch called the whole river de Malali ("the Malali"), which (with incorporation of the definite article into the name, and alternation of l and r) became Demerara. Alternatively, perhaps Immenary or Dumaruni meaning “river of the letterwood”. The sugar is so-called because it was grown in the region around the river.
Words formed from demerara
Questions about demerara
- What does demerara mean?
- Demerara means a river which rises in the rainforests of Guyana, and flows north to the Atlantic Ocean, which the country's capital of Georgetown is situated on; in full, the Demerara River.
- What is demerara the alternative letter-case form of?
- Demerara is the alternative letter-case form of Demerara.
- What part of speech is demerara?
- Demerara can be a proper noun or a noun.
- How do you pronounce demerara?
- Demerara is pronounced /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/ (UK).
Words near demerara in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: demerara (page history and authors); Demerara (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Demerara.wav.
Cite this entry: “demerara.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/demerara. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.