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āsavehi

āsava

masc instr pl of āsava (noun); masc abl pl of āsava (noun); nt instr pl of āsava (noun); nt abl pl of āsava (noun)

1. discharge from a sore; suppuration from a wound
2. discharge; suppuration; outflow; effluent; (comm) defilement
3. discharge; suppuration; outflow; effluent
4. extract; liquor; spirit

Built from

• ā — prefix · toward
  Marks motion or direction coming toward the speaker; here, inflows entering the mind.
• sav — root · flow, seep
  The image is of liquid flowing or seeping; cognate with English 'sap' (tree fluid) and 'seep'. In compounds, it carries the sense of outflow or contamination.
• a — stem · noun formant
  Creates the noun stem āsava- from the root.
• ehi — ending · instrumental/ablative plural
  The ending -ehi marks either instrumental ("by means of") or ablative ("away from") plural; here, the āsavā are the defilements by which or from which one acts.

Analysis. ā- (toward) + √sav (to flow): things that flow toward one, entering the mind; in canonical usage, the four āsavā (kāmāsava, bhavāsava, diṭṭhāsava, avijjāsava) are the corrupting influences that bind one to saṁsāra.

Etymology. ā (toward the speaker) + √sav (to flow, seep), cognate with English sap and seep; the prefix shifts the neutral sense "flowing" into the doctrinal sense of flows entering and contaminating the mind.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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