Also htee. [Burmese h’ti umbrella.] A metallic decoration, in the shape of an umbrella, usually gilded and hung with bells, surmounting the topes and pagodas of Burma and adjacent countries.
1800. M. Symes, Embassy Ava, v. 188. The whole [building] is crowned by a Tee, or umbrella, of open iron-work, from which rises a rod with a gilded pennant. The tee or umbrella is to be seen on every sacred building that is of a spiral form.
1858. H. Yule, Mission to Ava, ii. 42. [The Gauda-palen Temple at Pagan] is cruciform in plan … crowned by a spire and htee.
1882. Edin. Rev., Oct., 360. On the summit of the tope was a square construction known among archæologists as the ‘tee.’
