Ghee (Hini घी ghī, Urdu گھی ghī, Punjabi ਘਿਉ/گھیو ghiu, Kashmiri ग्याव/گیاو gyāw, Bengali: ঘি ghi or ঘৃত ghrito - from Sanskrit घृत ghṛtə "sprinkled"), tup (Marathi तूप tūp), or samna (Arabic as سمنة, samnah) is a class of clarified butter that originated in the Indian subcontinent, and is important in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine such as Levantine and Egyptian cuisines and in Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisines.