ghee

• ghi

From Hindustani گھی (ghī) / घी (ghī), from Sanskrit घृत (ghṛta, “sprinkled”). Attested in English since the late 17th century. Related to Christ via Proto-Indo-European.

• enPR: gē, IPA^(key): /ɡiː/
• (South Asia) IPA^(key): [ɡʱiː]
• Homophone: gi
• Rhymes: -iː

ghee (usually uncountable, plural ghees)

1. A type of clarified butter used in South Asian cooking; usli ghee.
   • 1845, T.A. Wise, Commentary on the Hindu System of Medicine‎, page 140:

     Of the medicines for relaxing the body; ghee, oil, charbi, marrow, and such are to be used; of these ghee is the best, as it is produced from milk, which is obtained from the cow.

   • 2022 October 17, Priya Krishna, “It’s Not Diwali Without Mithai”, in The New York Times‎:

     Employees furiously pack ornate boxes containing laddoos enriched with ghee, spongy rasgula and all manner of colorful sweets, often made with dairy, sugar and nuts and sometimes topped with a layer of edible silver foil.

2. (South Asia) Vegetable oil for cooking.
   • 1973, Madhur Jaffrey, An Invitation to Indian Cooking:

     There are two kinds of ghee. Usli ghee or clarified butter is used rarely, partly because of its expense and partly because Indians consider it "heavy". The more commonly used ghee is a mixture of various vegetable oils.

• butter oil
• clarified butter

• “ghee”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

ghee m (plural ghees)

1. ghee (South Asian style clarified butter)