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suttee

[suh-tee, suht-ee]
See more synonyms for suttee on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. sati.
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Related formssut·tee·ism, noun

sati

or sa·tī, sut·tee

[suh-tee, suht-ee]
noun
  1. a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband: now abolished by law.
  2. a Hindu widow who so immolates herself.
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Origin of sati

First recorded in 1780–90, sati is from the Sanskrit word satī good woman, woman devoted to her husband
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for suttee

Historical Examples

  • Did we wait until India herself asked for the abolition of suttee?

    Lotus Buds

    Amy Carmichael

  • He issued his proclamation abolishing the Suttee in his district.

    Following the Equator, Complete

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • He speaks with sympathy of suttee, and he quotes the Volga-Kalmucks with approval.

    Home Life in Germany

    Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick

  • Rite of suttee abolished in Hindostan by the British authorities.

  • She happened to have been reading about suttee in a feminist paper only a day or two before.

    Gray youth

    Oliver Onions

British Dictionary definitions for suttee

suttee

noun
  1. the former Hindu custom whereby a widow burnt herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre
  2. a Hindu widow who immolated herself in this way
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Derived Formssutteeism, noun

Word Origin

C18: from Sanskrit satī virtuous woman, from sat good
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for suttee

n.

"self-cremation of a Hindu widow on her husband's funeral pyre," 1786, from Hindi, from Sanskrit sati "virtuous woman," fem. of sat "good, wise," literally "existing," present participle of asmi "I am" (cognate with Latin esse; see essence). Properly, the word for the woman who does so. The custom was abolished in British India in 1829.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper