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cha·pa·ti also cha·pat·ti

(chə-pätē)

n. pl. cha·pa·tis

A flat, unleavened, disk-shaped bread of northern India, made of wheat flour, water, and salt. Also called roti.

[Hindi capātī, from capānā, to press down, flatten, causative of capnā, to be pressed or flattened; akin to Prakrit cappaï, he presses; perhaps akin to Sanskrit carpaṭaḥ, flat of the hand, thin biscuit of flour (ultimately of non-Indo-Aryan origin) or to Tamil cappaṭṭai, anything flat, flatness.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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