What does roti mean?
Roti is a South Asian flatbread made from flour, most often whole-wheat flour, and cooked on a hot griddle until lightly browned. It is typically unleavened, pliable, and served with curries, dals, chutneys, vegetables, or yogurt. In everyday English, the word most commonly refers to this round Indian-style bread, especially in Indian and Pakistani communities. In some South Asian dialects and contexts, however, roti can simply mean bread more generally. Although the English word is borrowed from Hindi, roti is now widely used across South Asia and in restaurants and recipes throughout the English-speaking world. It belongs to a large family of flatbreads found in many cuisines, but its usual English association is with thin, whole-wheat griddle bread. The word is especially useful when a speaker needs to distinguish this everyday South Asian bread from leavened loaves and other kinds of flatbread.
A thin, round, usually unleavened flatbread made from flour and cooked on a griddle.
"We ordered two rotis and a bowl of dal for lunch."
This is the dominant modern meaning in South Asian English.
Bread or a loaf of bread in more general South Asian usage.
"The shopkeeper asked whether she wanted roti for breakfast."
This broader sense occurs in South Asian languages and English varieties, but it is less dominant in contemporary English.
Usually pluralized by adding -s; in some South Asian languages, the borrowed form is conventionally used in the plural.
"The restaurant serves rotis with a choice of curries."
In Hindi, roti simply means “bread”; its common English use specifically names the thin, round, unleavened flatbread cooked on a griddle.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does roti come from?
Roti entered English from Hindi रोटी (rotī), a word denoting bread and commonly referring to a flat, unleavened bread. In Hindi, the term is also used more broadly for bread, and English adopted both the specific food and, in some contexts, the broader sense.
Related word forms
How roti is actually used
The term is most common in South Asian English. Roti is usually thinner and unleavened, distinguishing it from bread made with yeast and from leavened flatbreads such as naan.