Where "Sanga" Comes From
Built from "sandwich" with the "-a" ending, a slightly less common cousin of the more typical Australian "-ie/-o" clipping pattern (see brekkie, bikkie). "Sanger" is the more widely used spelling variant of the exact same word — the two are interchangeable, not different things.
Green's Dictionary of Slang traces the word (via its more common spelling "sanger") back to an 1894 Sydney Truth report of going "without the sustenance of a single 'sangwidge'" — both spellings have been in constant, everyday Australian use ever since.
Source:
"I'll have a vegemite sanga for lunch."
How Aussies Actually Use It
An everyday lunchbox staple — "I'll have a vegemite sanga for lunch" is about as ordinary and universal an Australian sentence as they come.
Used by kids and adults alike, from school lunches to worksite smokos, regardless of what's actually inside the bread.
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