va·nas·pa·ti  (v ə-n ŭs p ə-t ē, -näs -)
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n. Any of various hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as palm oil or cottonseed oil, having a semisolid or granular consistency, used especially in South Asian cooking.
[Hindi, short for vanaspati ghī, vegetable ghee : vanaspati, vegetation, the vegetable kingdom (from Sanskrit vanaspatiḥ, tree (literally, "lord of the wood") : vanas, probably genitive singular of van-, tree, wood; akin to Avestan vanā-, tree + patiḥ, lord; see poti- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots) + ghī, ghee.] |