Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty) is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.[1][2][3]
Chettiar/Chetty is derived from the Sanskrit word Śreṣṭha (Devanagari: श्रेष्ठ) or Śreṣṭhin (Devanagari: श्रेष्ठीन्) meaning superior, Prakritised as Seṭhī (Devanagari: सेठी), and then Śeṭ (Devanagari: शेट) or Śeṭī (Devanagari: शेटी) in modern Indo-Aryan dialects.[4][5][6][7][8][9]