Pāli vocabulary list of super easy words to learn

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Pāli vocabulary freebies (common indo/euro roots)

Feel free to add to this list.

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English alphabetical order is used, since pali sort order would confuse the people trying to learn pali.

There are 4 piles (lists):

  1. words that share common indian/euro root
  2. words look like they share root, but don’t
  3. words with fun mnemonic ways to memorize them
  4. two for the price of one! This list of words, the negation means the opposite

1. indian and english derived from same root

pali/english

assa/horse
āraddha-vīriya/aroused-vigor
bandhati/to bind
bimba/puppet, trick to delude the senses (the masculine is bimbo)
bubbula/bubble
go/cow
hiṃsā/a-hiṃsā: harmful/not-harmful
manussa/mankind
nāma/name
pandita/pundit: wise man, wise guy
passaddhi/pacification
passambhayaṃ/pacify
rukkha/tree (i.e. “oak”)
sata-padī/centi-pede: sata = 100 = greek centi. pada = foot = greek pede
sāta/satisfaction: pleasure; comfort. (adj.) pleasant; agreeable. (nt.)
tathā-gata/thus-gone
udaka/water (= “otter”)
viriya/virility-vigor-vitailty: thanissaro uses persistence, bodhi uses “energy”.

2. looks like common indian and european root, but is not

(resemblance between indian root and english root is coincidence)

3. fun mnemonic tricks, memory device

(any resemblance between indian root and english root is coincidence)

āloka: A Loka, mnemonic: A LOTTA LIGHT. I see a lot of light.
kilesa: kilesas are killers of wisdom. Kill the kilesa before the kilesa kills you.
padhāna, padahati: exertion, energetic effort, samma vayamo = samma padhana: paddle your raft to cross the flood like your life depends on it!

4. two for the price of one! This list of words, the negation means the opposite

atta/an-atta: self/not-self
byāpāda, a-byāpāda: malevolence/non-malevolence
hiṃsā/a-hiṃsā: harmful/not-harmful
nicca/a-nicca: permanent/im-permanent
pamāda/appamāda: carelessness/heedfulness

Related topics

Related topics.

Notes

If any.

Other references

One idea for memorizing Pāli words is to use flashcards (physical/digital). Many options available, like Anki.

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new section added to the wiki:

fun mnemonic tricks, memory device

kilesa: kilesas are killers of wisdom. Kill the kilesa before the kilesa kills you.

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Eka=one
Dvi = two
Tri = three
Catur = Four
Panca = five
Sa = six
Sapta = seven
Atta = eight
Nava= nine
Dasa = ten

fun mnemonic tricks, memory device

Panna = pun-ah! wisdom, is wit - it takes intelligence to make jokes. Pundit?
Nana = know-ledge; gnosis (Parineyya = full knowledge; Abhineyya= deep knowledge)
Vipassana memonic for Vision/Wisdom
Dassana is Vision; memonic for Display
Sati is mindfulness, memonic is Sight
Manasikara is contemplation, memonic Mentate (think)
Ditti is View, memonic is Dissertations
Sacca is Truths, memonic is ‘Suchness’(?)
Tilakkhana = three marks (of existence)

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Dosā, ‘dusk’.
Mnemonic: “dusk”.

Aruṇa, ‘dawn’
Mnemonic: “Aurora”.

The two senses of dosa:

Dosa 1, ‘fault’; = Skt. doṣa.
Mnemonic: “A dose”, in the sense of a venereal infection.

Dosa 2, ‘anger’, ‘hate’; = Skt. dveṣa.
The word is etymologically related to Latin dīrus, source of the English ‘dire’. Hence:
Mnemonic: “Dīræ Sorōres”, the Dire Sisters, a Latin name for the three Furies.

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I’ve edited the wiki (the first post in this thread, which anyone can edit, not just me)

with the following change:

Pāli vocabulary freebies (common indo/euro roots)

Feel free to add to this list.

Anyone can edit this first post in the thread, not just the original poster.
If you edit the wiki (the first post, this post in the wiki thread), it won’t show up on SCDD current topics. If you want that to happen, add a new message to the thread to announce something you added.

English alphabetical order is used, since pali sort order would confuse the people trying to learn pali.

There are 4 piles (lists):

  1. words that share common indian/euro root
  2. words look like they share root, but don’t
  3. words with fun mnemonic ways to memorize them
  4. two for the price of one! This list of words, the negation means the opposite
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āloka-saññaṃ → ñāṇa-dassana
luminosity-perception, (for) knowledge-(and)-vision

A Loka, mnemonic: A LOTTA LIGHT. I see a lot of light.

ñāṇa: that shares a common indo/euro root with knowledge correct?

ASND (āloka-saññaṃ → ñāṇa-dassana) looks like a unix abbreviation for “ascend”. mnemonic: if you want to ascend to greatness, you need to cultivate and nurture ASND.

AN 6.29 (2. āloka-saññaṃ leads to ñāṇa-dassanap-paṭi-lābhāya )

“Puna ca-paraṃ, bhante, bhikkhu
 “Again, and-furthermore, Lord, a-monk,
āloka-saññaṃ manasi karoti,
 Luminosity-perception: (his) mind attends.
Divā-saññaṃ adhiṭṭhāti—
 daytime-perception (he is) resolved on.
yathā divā tathā rattiṃ,
 as-by Day so-by night,
yathā rattiṃ tathā divā.
 As-by-night so-by day,
Iti vivaṭena cetasā a-pariyonaddhena
 (By means of an) *** open awareness, un-enveloped,
Sap-pabhāsaṃ cittaṃ bhāveti.
 ***-luminous mind, (he) develops.
Idaṃ, bhante, anus-satiṭ-ṭhānaṃ
 This, Lord, (is a) practice-to-be-recollected.
evaṃ bhāvitaṃ evaṃ bahulīkataṃ
 Thus developed, thus pursued,
ñāṇa-dassanap-paṭi-lābhāya saṃvattati.
 Knowledge-(and)-vision-****-acquisition (this) leads to.
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animals:

musika : mouse (or rat) both pali+eng have the letters m,u,o. another mnemonic: I think of the pied piper playing MUSIC on his flute, leading a conga line of MOUSES.
sata-padi = hundred foot = centi pede
vicchika = scorpion : I imagine a scorpion pinching and breaking little things with its pinchers making a “vicchika” sound.
sarabhu = lizard. i picture a salamander, which starts with “s” and also contains 2 “a”'s and an “r”