Standard Lemma guide

chetty

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A member of one of various South Indian castes of merchants, money-lenders and land-owners.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 2000, Laure Adler, Marguerite Duras: A Life, translated by Anne-Marie Glasheen, London: Victor Gollancz, Chapter 3, p. 58, https://books.google.ca/books?id=RRxxlYQTzNYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [...] Marguerite's mother was earning 22,000 francs a month. A quarter of that went to the owner of the Saigon boarding house; another quarter to Pierre's tutor in France and a third went to the chetties to pay off loans made for the concession.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit श्रेष्ठ (śreṣṭha) or श्रेष्ठीन् (śreṣṭhīn).

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Burmese: ချစ်တီး (hkyacti:) — South Asian subgroup
  • Malayalam: ചെട്ടിയാർ (ceṭṭiyāṟ) — South Asian subgroup
  • Tamil: செட்டியார் (ceṭṭiyār) — South Asian subgroup
  • Telugu: చెట్టి (ceṭṭi) — South Asian subgroup