A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in India and other parts of southeast Asia in which food is cooked over charcoal. The word tandoor comes from the Hindi words tandūr and tannūr; these derive from the Persian tanūr, which comes from the Arabic word tannūr. It is needed to cook certain types of East Indian food, such as tandoori chicken. (The word tandoori is the adjective form.)