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suttee definition

sut·tee (sə tē′, sut′ē)

noun

  1. a Hindu widow who allowed herself to be cremated alive on the funeral pyre of her husband's body
  2. the former Hindu custom of such self-immolation

Etymology: Hindi sattī < Sans satī, chaste and virtuous wife < sat, good, pure, prp. of as, to be: for IE base see is

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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